Placing People First (News and Research 221)

The EU Green Deal Action Plan: “It must put people first”

Human capital and CO2 emissions in the long run | Using a unique historical dataset for 20 OECD economies from 1870 to 2014, we study whether human capital accumulation is associated with improvements in environmental quality via reductions in CO₂ emissions. Our preferred long-run point estimates, which account for cross-sectional dependence and structural breaks, suggest that advanced human capital, in the form of additional tertiary schooling, is linked to CO₂ emissions and that an additional year of tertiary schooling is associated with a reduction in CO₂ emissions between 50.1% and 65.8%, depending on the specification. When we estimate the relationship between human capital and CO₂ emissions non-parametrically, we find that the association between human capital and CO₂ emissions is time-varying, that it switched from positive to negative in the 1950s and became more strongly negative thereafter. The time-varying estimates reflect heterogeneity in the relationship between different levels of human capital and CO₂ emissions and the growth in investment in higher education in the OECD since the 1950s. Our findings provide evidence of the social benefits of investing in advanced human capital and suggest a promising avenue for addressing climate change without impeding economic growth.

Croatia 2030 National Development Strategy published. Preparation of the policy note Education and Skills led by Diego Ambasz (with contributions from Lucia Brajkovic)

England’s catch-up tutoring programme has bold ambitions | With covid-19 spreading and schooling disrupted, pupils are likely to need even more help | It is a straightforward process. Go to the National Tutoring Programme website, type in your location and pick a provider. A school in Tyneside can, for instance, choose from 19 options, including tlc Live (a firm offering online tutoring from qualified teachers), the Brilliant Club (a charity providing lessons from phd students) and White Rose Maths (just maths teaching, from a chain of schools in Yorkshire). In June, Boris Johnson announced a £1bn ($1.3bn) pupil catch-up fund, with a portion set aside for tutoring. On November 2nd the National Tutoring Programme launched—and not a minute too soon. Children spent the end of the last academic year at home. They have now returned to school, but things are not going entirely to plan. Before the start of half-term, the spread of covid-19 meant that one in eight secondary-school pupils was absent…

Covid-19: Disadvantaged children at school can start catch-up tuition | At the beginning of the pandemic Simon Burgess and Hans Sievertsen explored what the evidence has to say about the potential impact of Covid-19 on learning. Whilst the precise consequences of missing a school term back then could not be estimated, Burgess and Sievertsen predicted that “there will be substantial disparities between families in the extent to which they can help their children…

Lockdown children forget how to use knife and fork | The pandemic has seen most children in England slipping back with their learning – and some have gone significantly back with their social skills…

Ontario Issues Payment To Help Support Families Educating Students At Home | Ontario is distributing a second CAN$200 (US$152) per child payment for children age 12 and under—and CAN$250 (US$190) for special needs students age 21 and under—to help defray costs of supporting children’s learning at home during the school closures related to the coronavirus pandemic. This will be the second round of payments to families. The payments were announced by Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips who said: “We have heard from parents that new expenses to support their kid’s education in the COVID-19 era are straining their pocketbooks.”

Learning time reduction in Switzerland due to COVID-19 school closures: Students reduced, on average, their studying time from 35 to 23 hours per week…

…which resulted in…

Learning loss in Switzerland due COVID-19 school closures. Secondary school pupils largely unaffected by closures, but primary school pupils learning slows down. Distance learning is effective but not all benefit to same degree…

Learning loss in the USA | Dallas, Texas during COVID-19 school closures: 30% of students lost learning in reading and 50% of students lost learning in math…

How families handled emergency remote schooling during the time of Covid lockdown in spring 2020 | Summary of key findings from families with children in 11 European countries | This research gives the first look into families’ digital lives and remote schooling activities across 11 European countries during the Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020. It focused on children at the end of primary education and in secondary education (10-18 years old) and their parents in 9 EU countries (Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain) in addition to Switzerland and Norway. The findings show that on average, children across all participating countries reported spending about half of their online time on digital learning activities…

Estimates of impact of  COVID-19 disruptions on jobs, wages, lifetime earnings of schoolchildren in Australia | Conservative estimates indicate losses of between AUD$50 million and AUD$100 million from coronavirus-related schooling disruptions…

With Kazakh Schools Going Online, Parents And Teachers Face Unexpected Challenges, Worries | Tatiana Kaimashnikova was surprised when her 12-year-old son Roman suddenly began getting high marks on his homework and tests after his school in the northwestern Kazakh city of Oral switched to online classes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Turkey: Özelim Eğitimdeyim (I am special, I am in education) | Mentions that Turkey further invested in a project on Safe Schooling and Distance Education with World Bank support…