Generation Interrupted: Rethinking “Students with Interrupted Formal Education” (SIFE) in the Wake of a Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schooling worldwide, compelling educators, researchers, and policymakers to grapple with the implications of these interruptions. However, while the scale of these disruptions may be unprecedented, for many students, interrupted schooling is not a new phenomenon. In this article, I draw insights from the field of Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) for supporting students who experience schooling interruption. In addition, I argue that the extensive accommodations offered to students in the midst of the pandemic must be preserved for future generations of SIFE students—a population for whom similar accommodations have been historically denied. Through this analysis, I demonstrate the need to interrogate traditional notions of interrupted schooling and the students who experience it. This article offers implications for rethinking interrupted schooling, as well as formal education writ large, toward more equitable and socially just ends.

Adolescents’ Behaviors, Fitness, and Knowledge Related to Active Living before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic and its related policy restrictions have had a long-lasting impact on adolescents’ daily living worldwide [ 10 ], with a major influence that millions of schools were forced to halt in-person instruction for virtual or hybrid instruction [ 11 ]. While these alternative models of instruction (along with effective vaccines and other public health measures) have contributed to containment of the virus, millions of school-aged youth also experienced reduced access to PA opportunities both in and out of schools, thereby increasing their exposure to screen time, hampering PA participation, and exacerbating challenges to well-being [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. This study aimed to investigate adolescents’ behaviors, fitness, and knowledge related to active living before the pandemic and during two phases of school re-opening.…”

Migrant Students’ Sense of Belonging and the Covid‐19 Pandemic: Implications for Educational Inclusion

“…Furthermore, it has been noted that interrupted schooling was not necessarily a new phenomenon for many migrant students (Chang-Bacon, 2021). Before Covid-19, Potochnick (2018) found that migrant students with interrupted schooling did not differ in school engagement from their native-born peers even though their educational achievement was lower.…”

Academic discourse on education during the early part of the pandemic

“…(2021) Leniency in regulations Educational institutions at all levels became more lenient in their interpretation of regulations, standards, and procedures: Large-scale standardized testing—including final secondary school exams—was suspended; Exceptions on entrance, promotion, and graduation requirement were formulated; Replacement assignments were offered for practical education; Curricula were redesigned. - Chang-Bacon (2021) de Boer (2021) Expectations quickly became more realistic as exceptions to the rules became more common. - Thornton (2021) Higher education institutions tended to consider the situation more from a student perspective.…”