School alienation and academic achievement in Switzerland and Luxembourg: a longitudinal perspective

[Increase of educational inequity at the transformation to higher secondary schools in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic: low achievers and low motivated students as particular risk group]

When learning at home, students face higher demands in regards of self-regulated learning compared to learning at school. In order to cope with the demands of distance learning, high levels of self-management, self-motivation, and self-organization are required. This can be-according to the resource model of coping with developmental tasks (Fend et al. 2009)-supported by familial, school-related and personal resources. Based upon this theoretical approach, a survey was conducted with 593 students just after their transition to upper secondary schools in autumn 2021 on distance learning and relevant resources. They spent about one month in the new school before they had to cope with a 4-month long period of distance learning. Four regression models were estimated using step-wise inclusion of the different resources described in the paper. The analyses confirm above all the great importance of personal resources (academic achievement, learning motivation, general self-efficacy) for coping with the demands of distance learning. Low achievers and low motivated students prove to be particularly at risk in the context of distance learning. Therefore, this vulnerable group requires special attention and support both, in future periods of remote teaching as well as following the pandemic.