The COVID-19 pandemic: learning loss and educational inequalities in Italy

This chapter examines the impact of school disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on learning losses in Italy. Amongst high-income countries, Italy entered the pandemic with a relatively low degree of technological preparedness and experienced very long school closures (a total of 38 weeks of full or partial school closures). Using standardised assessment for the entire population of students in grades 2, 5, 8 and 13, this chapter provides a detailed picture of learning losses, comparing a cohort never exposed to the pandemic (2019) and the cohort that completed school in 2021, controlling for students’ achievements three years before. Results indicate that Italian students have suffered significant learning losses, with higher grades and lower-skilled students experiencing the largest losses. Moreover, while we find no differences between children from different backgrounds within schools, the learning loss is largest in schools attended by students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.