This scoping review serves as an informed basis to understand the educational impacts of the disruption caused by COVID-19, specifically for young people who may be living in disadvantaged contexts within Australia. Questions arose regarding the best ways to support vulnerable students to continue their education. In response to these school closures, many countries adopted online modalities to ensure continuity in learning however, this adjustment heralded growth in concerns over how students from socially and financially disadvantaged backgrounds would be educationally, emotionally, and socially impacted by online learning. In an attempt to contain the COVID-19 virus and reduce its spread globally, 191 countries instigated nationwide school closures (UNESCO 2020c), affecting approximately 91.3% of students, around 1.5 billion students worldwide. This article will consider these divisions and also reflect upon strategies that were employed during school closures to counter the long-term and detrimental consequences arising from this health and economic crisis (Beaunoyer et al. The responses to the pandemic have been evolving and fluid however, what has become clear is that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the multiple and profound educational divisions that already exist globally (Beaunoyer et al. Footnote 1 The way in which various countries and educational systems responded to this global pandemic provided the impetus for this scoping review with particular reference to how mass school closures could impact our most vulnerable learners. Nationally, the Australian federal government responded to calls for mass school closures by commissioning research to inform the community of the effects for vulnerable young people. These recommendations span the whole learning sphere, including the well-being and educational needs of learners, as well as the emotional health of educators and the need for common directions/guidelines for educational institutions. To address the significant disruption to learning and educational environments, UNESCO ( 2020b) swiftly developed ten key recommendations to ensure that learning across the globe remained relatively uninterrupted during the COVID-19 crisis. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created huge worldwide repercussions, impacting economies, health sectors, and education systems, as noted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2020a, b, c). This scoping review combines research on technology availability and learning, with analysis of the long-term educational impacts of navigating the COVID-19 disruption.
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In Australia, if full school closures were to be enforced over a long period, a significant proportion of students from more vulnerable backgrounds would likely experience persistent disadvantage through a range of barriers: long-term educational disengagement, digital exclusion, poor technology management, and increased psychosocial challenges.
This partial closure not only enabled learning in smaller targeted groups but also offered a safe sanctuary for those who needed a regulated and secure environment. Globally, while some countries opted for a mass school shut-down, many schools remained open for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. A range of material has been drawn upon to highlight educational issues of this learning context, including psychosocial and emotional repercussions. This scoping review provides an overview of COVID-19 approaches to managing unanticipated school closures and available literature related to young people learning outside-of-school.