Learning loss in UNRWA schools

Learning loss, defined as “any specific or general loss of knowledge and skills or to reversals in academic progress, most commonly due to extended gaps or discontinuities in a student’s education” (Great Schools Partnership Great Schools Partnership, 2013), has affected students worldwide following the COVID-19 pandemic (Betthäuser et al., 2023), including Palestinian refugee students. Findings from the 2016 MLA and 2021 ALO-SAF reports show that there has been a significant learning loss in UNRWA schools across Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank and Syria. This is evidenced by the decrease in the percentage of students who met the Achieved and Advanced performance levels in Arabic and mathematics, combined with an increase in the percentage of students who were at the “Not Achieved” performance level. This policy brief aims to identify the factors associated with learning loss in each field, with the objective of providing solutions to counteract it. The ALO-SAF 2021 results showed that a set of factors were influencing the performance of UNRWA students in Arabic and mathematics. It is, therefore, imperative to direct attention to these factors to account for the emerging learning loss in UNRWA schools. This brief focuses on the most important factors contributing to Arabic and mathematics achievement in the five fields. To this end, a series of regression analyses were run on data collected from UNRWA schools in the ALO-SAF 2021 report.