The aim of this research was to assess changes in secondary school students’ grades longitudinally, including the semester before the COVID-19 pandemic, the period of distance learning, and two semesters when students had returned to face-to-face learning. In this longitudinal study, n=263 Latvian students’ grades from the period of six semesters (autumn 2019 to spring 2022) were collected and analyzed for seven study subjects (mathematics, English, Latvian, biology, chemistry, physics, and literature), using Friedman’s ANOVA, and Wilcoxon test for comparison. Results show that grades increased for several study subjects during the beginning of the distance learning period (e.g., mathematics and Latvian). However, this initial increase diminished after students had returned to schools to study in-person, especially for the subjects of mathematics and Latvian (native language). Decreases in students’ grades after returning to face-to-face studies indicate possible accumulated negative long-term effects of distance learning. The dynamics of the grades differ in various study subjects (e.g., relative stability in chemistry, decrease in mathematics, Latvian, biology), thus justifying the approach to analyze each study subject or study field separately. This study gives insight into longitudinal changes in students’ academic achievement, following the same students throughout their whole secondary school period from 10th to 12th grade during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the global educational landscape, prompting a need to explore emerging literature on home learning, literacy development, and parental involvement. This study aims to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education, and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, by examining these aspects in the context of the pandemic and beyond through a bibliometric analysis. The analysis depicts 416 publications from the Web of Science Database between 2014–2023. The study utilized co-citation and co-word analysis techniques to identify key research clusters and trends related to home learning and literacy development. The analysis revealed that parental involvement can help mitigate learning loss, supporting SDG targets for equitable and inclusive education. Key research clusters identified include the influence of socio-economic status on literacy outcomes, continuity of literacy practices, and the long-term effects of traditional versus digital home learning environments. The findings highlighted a consensus on the importance of a supportive home literacy environment for reading skills and overall academic success. The need for intervention programs targeting low-income groups to ensure equitable access to learning resources, aligning with SDG 10, was also identified through the study. The findings have practical implications for enhancing the home literacy environment, increasing parental involvement, and supporting early literacy interventions, providing valuable insights for education stakeholders, policymakers, and researchers in the post-pandemic era.

This study used data from the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) Study, to examine young people’s university aspirations and post-18 education expectations during COVID-19 in relation to their demographic and socio-economic position, school engagement, education disruption, and attitudes to education. Through a series of binary regression analyses, the findings showed the important role school engagement (in the form of online lesson attendance, schoolwork and teacher contact) played in young people’s university aspirations and post-18 education plans, especially at the height of the pandemic. Education disruption and locus of control were found to contribute to young people’s aspirations and post-18 expectations. The findings also highlighted the influence of gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic position regarding university aspirations and expectations, laying bare the obstacles in accessing learning faced by disadvantaged young people at a crucial time in their education. The findings contribute to continued debates about educational aspirations in the post COVID-19 world and have policy implications especially as this generation of young people are still in education. They may also contribute to discussions on ways of supporting this COVID-19 generation through fiscal changes and widening participation policies that extend to post-18 education and early career development.

The evaluation of Service-Learning (S-L) projects in online environments has become increasingly relevant in educational research, at the same time as the importance of using mixed methods has risen. However, there are few studies focusing on the evaluation of virtual Service-Learning, as most studies concentrate on face-to-face Service-Learning projects. In this regard, the aim of the present research is to assess three Virtual Service-Learning (vS-L) projects using a blended (quantitative-qualitative) evaluation method, also conducted online. The evaluation was conducted by students from the National University for Distance Learning, who completed a questionnaire asynchronously and participated in synchronous focus groups within their respective groups. Data were arranged in a mixed panel (questionnaire items and focus group verbatim opinions). The questionnaires demonstrated that Service-Learning is an excellent methodology to broaden students’ skills, abilities, and competencies to better face the professional world. The focus group verbatim interventions showed that the construction of indicators improves learning. Overall, the assessment results revealed a high level of student satisfaction. The implementation of our mixed-methods approach is innovative because it is conducted entirely online and utilizes computer technology for processing the gathered information.