科技科学

Phone-based tutoring improves learning during school closures

Nature正文已收录本站
  • NEWS AND VIEWS

One-to-one phone sessions substantially increased students’ numeracy test scores in low- and middle-income countries that experience emergencies that disrupt schooling.

By

  1. Felipe Barrera-Osorio

    1. Felipe Barrera-Osorio is in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37212, USA.

Student test scores show that levels of learning are low globally, especially in low-income countries1. This problem is compounded by school closures caused by events such as extreme weather, natural disasters, teacher strikes and holidays, but there is limited evidence about which policies are effective at reducing, or even reversing, learning losses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many education systems closed schools for prolonged periods of time, prompting the adoption of remote-learning strategies. Writing in Nature, Angrist et al.2 provide compelling evidence that phone-based tutoring and support can be effective ways to help children to continue learning during school closures.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02471-y

References

  1. World Bank. World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promise (World Bank, 2018).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Angrist, N. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10990-x (2026).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Evans, D. K. & Yuan, F. Educ. Eval. Policy Anal. 44, 532–540 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bold, T., Kimenyi, M., Mwabu, G., Ng’ang’a, A. & Sandefur, J. J. Public Econ. 168, 1–20 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Banerjee, A. V. et al. J. Econ. Perspect. 31, 73–102 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Piper, B. & Dubeck, M. M. Int. J. Educ. Dev. 109, 103095 (2024).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

  • Read the paper: Mobile education builds resilience during shocks in five countries

  • Boys surpass girls in maths in the first year of school

  • School smart or street smart? Maths skills of children in India tested

  • See all News & Views

Subjects

Latest on:

  • Education
  • Sociology

  • Use AI as a sparring partner, not an oracle

    World View

  • Pick up the phone! Phone calls with tutors keep kids learning when schools shut down

    News

  • Mobile education builds resilience during shocks in five countries

    Article

  • New-deal mortgage programmes benefited white borrowers disproportionately

    Article

  • The Enhanced Games and the normalization of doping: a public health concern

    Correspondence

  • I want to see a prison-to-PhD pipeline

    Career Q&A