Summer Slide - Should I be worried about it?

Summer slide – a term we hear a lot during the summer holidays! A summer slide refers to the loss of knowledge and skills a child experiences when they do not engage with any of their acquired knowledge over the summer break. It takes anywhere between 18 and 252 days to form a new habit and it takes just as much time to replace those habits with new or old ones. Similarly, learning and maintaining new skills and knowledge requires practice, patience and exploration, which if unused could easily be lost.

But why don’t all children experience the same “slide”? The answer is in our differences. We are all different, learn in different ways and at different paces. We also have different interests and strengths which also contribute to how far “down the slide” a learner might go. Furthermore, momentum, continuity and feedback are crucial for the retention of knowledge, but these are not present in a typical summer schedule as, teachers, peers and resources available at school are not available. Therefore, children rely on their families’ resources and times for the academic enrichment needed to maintain momentum and continuity.

According to the Brookings Institute’s report (2017) over the summer break children will experience a decline in scores equivalent to a month’s worth of school-year learning, which is nearly half a term. The report further highlights the decline in maths to be greater than the decline in reading. Additionally, learning loss was found to be exponential meaning that the further into their academic journey the children are, the greater the decline in scores was.

The question is: should you be worried about the summer slide so much so that you recreate a school schedule at home? The answer is no! Maintaining skills and knowledge can be embedded in a summer schedule without it becoming onerous and taking away the time and opportunities to explore and rest. In fact, studies over the years (Entwisle, et al, 2007; Kuhfeld, et al, 2023) have shown that as little as 20 minutes a day or 2-3 hours a week or academic activities, can be an effective preventative measure of the summer slide.

Academic activities do not require you to stay indoors either! Visiting museums and galleries, participating in community activities, exchanging ideas with peers, solving brain teasers and part-taking in quizzes are all activities which can prevent the summer slide. Reading before bed is also a good habit to maintain during the summer. Overall, the term summer slide should not cause panic. Instead, it should be seen as an opportunity for you to provide your children and share with them new experiences!