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The Coronavirus, the Pandemic, and Education in an International Perspective

On this page, the team of Education Worldwide compiles international information on education in times of the Coronavirus pandemic.

General information, overviews & information channels

Education and COVID-19 - All publications by the Unesco and the OECD at a glance

The Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural and Communication Organisation) and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) are two of the largest international players when it comes to reports, studies and other publications on education. Both have therefore published several interesting publications on the subject of the corona pandemic (COVID-19) and education. We link their publication lists here. The literature is usually free of costs and freely accessible. Sometimes it is also available in different languages.

• Unesco publications on the topic of COVID-19 and education
• OECD publications on the topic of COVID-19 and education

New OECD publication on the state of education worldwide, one year after the beginning of the COVID-pandemic

The corona pandemic, which has been rampant since March 2020, has led to massive problems in the education systems of all countries worldwide: closed schools and inadequate digital teaching have lead to large educational gaps among students. This situation has been going on for a year now. During this time, the OECD, together with UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank, has collected data from around the world on how different education systems are coping with the challenge and crisis management. The report linked here offers first preliminary results.

Update January 2022: Meanwhile, the OECD published a new report with the title  "The State of Global Education. 18 Months into the Pandemic" as well as other reports with different topics related to education and the COVID-19 pandemic. We link to all of them here. 

• Follow this link to the OECD report "The State of School Education. One Year into the COVID Pandemic." (March 2021)
• New report "The State of Global Education. 18 Months into the Pandemic" (Sept 2021)
• More publications by the OECD concerning COVID-19 and education & career

Worldwide effects on education caused by the Coronavirus (Covid-19)

The coronavirus epidemic of 2020 has an impact on education worldwide, as Unesco reports.

Meanwhile, 850 million students (as of March 18th, 2020) cannot go to school due to school closures due to the corona virus. On its website, Unesco provides a world map showing in which countries schools are closed either nationwide or at a regional level.

In order to remedy this situation, Unesco recommends the use of distance learning and digital learning programmes and platforms. For this purpose, an extra page with lists of e-learning platforms, apps and more is provided.

The links to the Unesco pages can be found here:

• COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response (Unesco)
• Distance learning solutions to mitigate COVID-19 school closures (Unesco)

Educational regulations and decrees in time of the coronavirus pandemic (worldwide)

The Planipolis portal collects and links special regulations and similar documents from all over the world that were necessary in connection with the coronavirus pandemic in the field of education. This mainly concerns day-care center and school closures, but also other measures, e.g. budget, digital learning. Planipolis is a portal run by Unesco.

• Link to educational regulations and decrees in time of the coronavirus pandemic (worldwide)

European Schoolnet and Covid-19: E-Teaching resources for teachers

The European Schoolnet offers links to resources related to digital education and teaching. You will find strategies for online teaching, platforms for sharing e-resources, the European Schoolnet Academy Blog, webinars and much more. The compilation of links originated in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, in which school closings around the world are forcing students to teach and learn digitally from home.

• European Schoolnet and Covid-19: supporting the School Community

The Coronavirus gets explained in easy language

The organisation "Inclusion in Europe" explains the Coronavirus in easy language.

The Coronavirus spreads quickly. The Coronavirus is very contagious.

The organisation "Inclusion in Europe"  explains how you should behave. The organisation gives an easy explanation in many languages. For example in English, Italian, Spanish or French.

The links to the easy explanation are below the picture.

• Explanation on the Coronavirus in easy language
• More information in more languages on the Coronavirus

Collabovid is a plattform sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It allows searching for Covid-19 related publications in several renowned databases. We link to the results for the topic "education". You can also look for publications in specific journals (e.g. articles in the International Review of Education) or search for more detailed keywords. [...]

international; Ecuador; Georgia; Turkey; Peru; Armenia; Zambia; Azerbaijan; Korea, Republic of (South Korea); Mexico [...]
The CRC 1342 Covid-19 Social Policy Response Series is published by the Collaborative Research Centre "Global Dynamics of Social Policy" (CRC 1342). It provides a country-by-country overview of worldwide social policy [...]

Individual reports, articles and news

"Between December 2021 and June 2022 European Schoolnet hosted a number of webinars on the topic 'Re-imagine School Education Beyond Covid-19'. We invited policymakers, schools leaders, teachers and other education stakeholders to share their observations and ideas about quality digital resources, (digital) assessment and monitoring of school systems, student and teacher [...]

"This report shares the collective learning experiences of speakers and participants during the European Schoolnet webinar series. It aims to foster a discussion about how the future of school education beyond Covid-19 could and should look like. The report invites the reader to reflect on which changes in teaching and learning due to Covid-19 they would like to keep and which [...]

"This policy brief (2021) is part of the Global Programme Supporting Disability Inclusive COVID-19 Response and Recovery at National Level, funded by the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD). Proceeding from the review and analysis of the Programme-related research findings, the document presents recommendations to support relevant [...]

"Urging governments to reopen schools as soon as possible, UNICEF unveils No Time to Lose – a clock counting hours of lost learning – as the UN General Assembly gets underway in NY". Press release by Unicef, 17.09.2021.

"This NORRAG (network for international policies and cooperation in education and training) Highlights is written by guest author, Anne-Fleur Lurvink, a high school teacher in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. One year from the start of the pandemic, she reflects on where her community stands in terms of students’ resilience. What does resilience mean? Hear from Lurvink’s [...]

An international study about the correlation between the maternal employment rate and the rapidity with which countries re-opened their schools during the Corona pandemic in 2020. The study was carried out by two researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.

"This publication is motivated and inspired by the UNESCO OER Recommendation and the innovative experiences worldwide. It aims to show the implications of using Open Educational Practices (OEP) and Open Educational Resources (OER) on learning outcomes. Particularly, it describes, through illustrative examples, innovative approaches to using OEP and OER worldwide during [...]

Europe
The School Education Gateway provides links to European national portals for online and distance learning during the school closures due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The School Education Gateway is funded by Erasmus+, the European programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport. [Abstract: Editors of Education Worldwide]

A report on the educational situation of people with disabilities during the current coronavirus pandemic. Amongst others, it highlightens the fact that the now increasingly popular alternative of digital education creates many problems for people with disabilities. The blog is run by the team of the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report) of the Unesco. [Abstract: [...]

international
A short guide of 8 pages on "How to study at home and prepare for exams during quarantine?", published by the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.