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Let’s admit that students have learned less

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In an intriguing post on the WonkHE blog, CODE Fellow David Baume suggests that we should stop trying to make everything all right. Because we can’t. Rather, in the Covid years, we should be straight about the fact that, because of disruptions to teaching and learning, students may have learned less.

Students graduating from university in the next few years will, in their own minds and in the minds of employers and others, have a large Covid-19-shaped asterisk by their degree. Some obvious questions, David Baume suggests, are – what will graduates, employers and others take that asterisk to mean? - and what should we do about it?

The answer may be that we should be truthful. Let’s acknowledge and declare that the Covid-19-shaped asterisk beside their qualification means that, through no fault of their own, their teaching was disrupted, and so they (may have) learned less.

Read David's argument in WonkHE here.