Counter-COVID public policies and the impacts on Australian children

The Australian Governments interventions during the pandemic, such as school closures and lockdowns, aimed to stop the spread of COVID-19. However, these interventions may have had unintended impacts on Australian children in terms of learning losses and widened the educational gap between children of different socio-economic backgrounds and geographical location. We know little about the causal impacts of these interventions and the extent to which the Governments welfare support at the time lessened those impacts. We are also unclear about how best to now use Government support to address those impacts on childrens skill development. This project will identify the causal impacts of counter-COVID policies on the educational outcomes of Australian children and teens, including school closures, stay-at-home mandates and government welfare support. It will also investigate the ways in w