Six weeks of home schooling has meant a lot of effort for parents of a conscientious nature. The British weather has also been putting some effort in, with an unseasonable amount of warm sunshine. That has improved the mood of young people, but it may actually be hindering their education. That’s the warning from impressively detailed research examining the impact of heat on education.
It’s very old news that children tend to see lower academic achievement in hotter countries. But that is often put down to broader explanations, such as disease. This paper takes a different approach, examining the test results of 10 million students in America combined with daily local weather data.
The results are clear: hot classrooms are not good places to be, education-wise. A hotter school year before a test saw worse results. The impact lasts, with higher temperatures four years prior also having an effect. Higher weekend or summer temperatures make little difference, so it’s the direct impact of heat on classroom learning that causes the problem, as students find it harder to focus and get tasks done. Extreme heat is particularly damaging.
This research gives a new angle to the argument that we have to tackle climate change for the kids. A 2C rise will knock 7% off an average year’s worth of learning. So even if you don’t care about the globe your descendants will inherit, think of their GCSEs.
• Torsten Bell is chief executive of the Resolution Foundation. Read more at resolutionfoundation.org
