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Department of Educational Sciences and Psychology

Decline in reading skills: School closures and learning environment causes

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New study shows that the decline in reading skills is due to school closures and difficult extracurricular learning conditions.

A new study by the Center for Research on Education and School Development (IFS) has found that school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed significantly to the decline in reading skills in Europe. However, closures are not the only reason. For the first time, the study has determined the role played by deteriorating extracurricular learning conditions: across Europe, a quarter of the decline in performance can be attributed to this factor, and in Germany the figure is even higher than half. The poor socioeconomic situation of many families, increasing multilingualism, and digitalization are further challenges.

Further information: Press release and journal article