Distance learning from a student perspective

The report presents the views of children and young people regarding their learning and well-being in the context of distance education. It focuses on a general sense of well-being during school closures, students’ perceptions of schooling during Covid-19 and students’ perceptions of policy responses. The results of the analysis of the available secondary data on how Covid-19 pandemic and transition from face-to-face to distance education has affected the students from 20 EU Member States are presented in this report. The authors find that the lockdown measures affected children’s mood, relationships with friends, motivation to study, mental and physical health, time management abilities, and their general perception towards education. The report shows that the effect the lockdown had on children depended on teachers’ motivation to continue their teaching activities online, availability of the support from the family members, availability and use of digital technology, material conditions under which the children live, and how other people around the children addressed the lockdown measures. Finally, the report finds that the well-being of students with special educational needs and students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds tends to be affected by the lockdown measures more than the well-being of other students.