Almost half of young people with long COVID report learning losses

Almost half (45%) of all young people who reported long-term illness with COVID felt the pandemic had left them behind their classmates – with nearly three in five (59%) saying they had lost something Learning hadn’t caught up – according to new research with UCL.

The COVID Social Mobility & Opportunities (COSMO) study, co-led by the UCL Center for Education Policy and Equalizing Opportunities (CEPEO), the UCL Center for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) and the Sutton Trust, is the largest study examining the impact of the pandemic for young people.

The study, released as a briefing, examines the health effects and behaviors of nearly 13,000 young people across England who were in Year 11 in 2021/22. Most of the cohort are currently in Grade 13 if still in education. The briefing examines the incidence of COVID-19 and long-COVID and how this has affected young people’s education – including GCSE attainment using linked data from the National Pupil Database (NPD).

The study found that about half (52%) of young people asked to protect themselves from the virus said they had fallen behind their classmates, compared with a third (33%) of those who did not ask were to protect themselves. The authors note that part of this difference is likely due to the underlying reasons the person was asked to shield.

Those asked for a shield were also more likely to say their GCSE scores were lower than expected, at 36%, compared with 21% of those who were not asked for a shield.

Students who had severe long-COVID also achieved lower teacher-assessed GCSE scores, on average, than their non-long-COVID peers.

It has also been found that long COVID patterns vary according to the social backgrounds of young people. One in five (20%) students in a public comprehensive school who reported having COVID-19 either currently or previously have a long history of COVID-19, compared to one in six students in the high school and independent school (16%). In addition, the study found that those from the country’s most deprived areas were more likely to report long-term COVID than those from the least deprived areas (25% vs. 18%).

dr Jake Anders (UCL CEPEO), Principal Investigator at COSMO, said: “As we look at the issues surrounding the fading of COVID-19, we should not forget that it continues to impact those for whom it has been a particularly debilitating disease. Some continue to suffer from long COVID.

“Even those who have recovered have seen impacts on their broader lives and life chances, such as: B. Lower academic performance for those who have experienced severe long-term COVID. These impacts also appear to have exacerbated existing health and socioeconomic inequalities.”