On the Issue of Learning Losses: A Terminological Concept in Modern Scientific and Pedagogical Discourse

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the essential characteristics of the reality of learning losses through the prism of research in the national and international scientific environments. It was found out that russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has exacerbated the problem of learning losses, which was already intensified by the COVID‑19 pandemic. The authors have analyzed the latest research on the problematic of educational and learning losses that have been conducted by Ukrainian (the State Service for Quality of Education of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment, CEDOS Analytical Center, the International Renaissance Foundation) and international (UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank) organizations. It was established that in English-speaking countries, the term “learning losses” is mostly used to refer to the phenomenon of losses associated with the educational process, which in Ukrainian is more appropriately interpreted as learning rather than educational losses. It was determined that the concept of learning losses is understood by foreign researchers as a decrease in the level of student knowledge and skills. Two types of educational losses have been identified, namely “forgetting,” which refers to the loss of previously acquired learning, and “forgone” learning, which means expected learning that does not take place as schools are closed to in-person learning. A comparative analysis of the concepts related to learning losses is carried out, namely: learning gap, achievement gap, opportunity gap, unfinished learning. It was studied that traditional practices of measuring learning losses by testing student knowledge and skills in language and mathematics and ignoring other school subjects are debatable. It was determined that education has many desirable outcomes, these can be short term or long term, cognitive and non-cognitive, and instructional and educational. Short-term, cognitive, and instructional outcomes do not necessarily translate directly into long-term, non-cognitive, and educational outcomes. Test scores have been found to have a negative correlation with economic development and entrepreneurial confidence and activities across. Test scores do not predict the future of an individual’s success very well, and non-cognitive skills may play a bigger role than cognitive skills play. Some test’s assessments show successes that are only productive in the short term, while failures may actually be more productive in the long term. It was concluded that educational and learning losses are a complex issue in Ukraine which includes typical learning losses (seasonal breaks in formal education (summer vacations), absence from classes, ineffective teaching, unplanned suspension of the educational process for a long time due to the COVID‑19 pandemic), losses caused by military actions (destruction, damage, closure, displacement of educational institutions, lack of electricity and Internet, insufficient teaching and learning materials, psychological trauma). Learning losses are also inherent in students outside of Ukraine, due to insufficient proficiency in the language of the host country and, as a result, ineffective integration into the educational process. All of the above requires reflection and search for a common vision of educational and learning losses in order to develop tools for its measuring, taking into account the international vision and mechanisms for its overcoming.