According to a survey conducted by Rakuten Viber in collaboration with the online education studio EdEra, 95% of school teachers believe that students’ academic performance has deteriorated since the onset of the full-scale invasion. This study was carried out ahead of Teacher’s Day among nearly a thousand educators.
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Key Reasons for Declining Academic Performance
Teachers identified several key factors contributing to the decline in student learning over the past three years. The most common reasons included:
- Domestic obstacles (83.8% of respondents)
- Stress due to the war (73.7%)
- Prolonged online learning (57.6%)
- Students’ uncertainty about their future (56.4%)
- Accumulated learning gaps since COVID-19 (56.4%)
- Lack of motivation among students (53.4%)
These observations are based on teachers’ personal experiences, diagnostics conducted with students, and discussions with colleagues.
Methods for Overcoming Educational Losses
To compensate for educational losses, the majority of teachers (90%) conduct additional reviews of the material with students. Moreover, over 40% provide students with extra assignments or literature for independent study. They also consult parents on opportunities for making up learning gaps outside of school and offer additional classes.
Almost one-third of teachers (29%) organize extracurricular activities to support students. Meanwhile, about 3% of educators do not employ any methods to address educational losses.
Responsibility for Learning
According to the survey, 74% of teachers believe that the responsibility for making up educational losses falls on the students themselves. Additionally, 72% emphasized the important role of parents in this process. Teachers also consider themselves accountable for students’ learning, as indicated by 69% of responses.
The list of those responsible for supporting students also includes the Ministry of Education and Science, school administrations, and local authorities.
Conclusions
The survey indicates that Ukrainian teachers recognize the challenges their students face and are committed to working on restoring academic performance despite the difficult situation in the country.