Funded by The Australian Research Council (Discovery Project)

Funding Amount: $546,194

Project start date: 2024

Researchers

  • Dr Jinhu Li (CI), ANU
  • Dr Yijuan Chen (CI), ANU
  • Prof Emily Lancsar (CI), ANU
  • Prof Nattavudh Powdthavee (PI), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Project Description

This project aims to identify the causal effects of counter-COVID school closures, stay-at-home mandates and government support payments on the educational and developmental outcomes of Australian children. It will establish, for the first time, a comprehensive causal evidence base on the average and distributional impacts of these policies on children across the spectrum of schooling years from preschool to secondary school completion. This project expects to advance our understanding of child skill accumulation and the relative importance of schools, parents, peers and government intervention. Anticipated benefits include providing policy recommendations to restore student learning outcomes and reduce educational inequality in Australia.

National Interest Statement

The Australian Government’s interventions during the pandemic, such as school closures and lockdowns, aimed to stop the spread of COVID-19. However, these interventions may have had unintended impacts on Australian children in terms of learning losses and widened the educational gap between children of different socio-economic backgrounds and geographical location. We know little about the causal impacts of these interventions and the extent to which the Government’s welfare support at the time lessened those impacts. We are also unclear about how best to now use Government support to address those impacts on children’s skill development. This project will identify the causal impacts of counter-COVID policies on the educational outcomes of Australian children and teens, including school closures, stay-at-home mandates and government welfare support. It will also investigate the ways in which these policies have shaped educational inequality. Through policy briefings, roundtables and forums we will share these findings with Australian government departments to help them translate the findings into policy interventions and targeted welfare support that restore student learning outcomes and reduce educational inequality. Those interventions and support will contribute to long-term benefits for Australian families with children who lived through COVID-19, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.