Citation

Gibbs L, Nursey J, Cook J, Ireton G, Alkemade N, Roberts M, Gallagher HC, Bryant R, Block K, Molyneaux R, Forbes D. Child Dev. 2019; 90(4): 1402-1412.

Affiliation

University of Melbourne.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/cdev.13200

PMID

30675903

Abstract

Social disruption caused by natural disasters often interrupts educational opportunities for children. However, little is known about children's learning in the following years. This study examined change in academic scores for children variably exposed to a major bushfire in Australia. Comparisons were made between children attending high, medium, and low disaster-affected primary schools 2-4 years after the disaster (n = 24,642; 9-12 years). The results showed that in reading and numeracy expected gains from Year 3 to Year 5 scores were reduced in schools with higher levels of bushfire impact. The findings highlight the extended period of academic impact and identify important opportunities for intervention in the education system to enable children to achieve their academic potential.

© 2019 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

Language: en