Text messages and a weekly 20-minute phone call from a teacher can improve children's learning during prolonged school closures, finds a large trial conducted in five countries1. The approach offers a relatively cheap way to support children when schooling is disrupted by pandemics, natural disasters or other emergencies, say the study authors. Previous studies have considered the best way to educate children during emergencies, says co-author Noam Angrist, an education researcher at the University of Oxford, UK, but much of that research applies to certain locations and situations. There is 'almost no rigorous evidence' about what interventions can help children to learn when schools are disrupted, he adds. Angrist says that he and his colleagues wanted to develop an intervention that could tested through trials and implemented across different countries and settings. The results are published in Nature today. Naomi Barnes, an education researcher at Queensland University of...
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