Do school protests and strikes affect student learning?

Numbers match the citations in the article. A working link isn't proof that a page supports a claim; check the quoted passage and date.

1. 1

   Industrial Actions in Schools: Strikes and Student Achievement

   National Bureau of Economic Research (Baker)Published Mar 1, 2011Checked Oct 6, 2026

   “While many jurisdictions ban teacher strikes on the assumption that they harm students, there is surprisingly little research on this question.The majority of existing studies make cross section comparisons of students who do or do not experience a strike, and report that strikes do not affect student performance.I present new estimates from a sample of strikes in the Canadian province of Ontario over the period 1998-2005.The empirical strategy controls for fixed student characteristics at the school cohort level.The results indicate that teacher strikes in grades 2 or 3 have on average a small, negative and statistically insignificant effect on grade 3 through grade 6 test score growth, although there is some heterogeneity across school boards.The effect of strikes in grades 5 and 6 on grade 3 through grade 6 score growth is negative, much larger and statistically significant.The largest impact is on math scores: 29 percent of the standard deviation of test scores across school/grade cohorts.”

2. 2

   Examining the Antecedents and Outcomes of Contemporary Large Teacher Strikes

   Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (Nguyen & Rodríguez)Published May 10, 2026Checked Oct 6, 2026

   “As teacher strikes remain a prominent phenomenon within the United States, it is critical to examine their prevalence, potential causes, and consequences to understand the evolving dynamics of education policy, labor relations, and teaching as a profession. Using a unique longitudinal dataset of large teacher strikes between 1993 and 2019, we find strikes occur in waves and various economic, socio-political, and occupational factors predict strike occurrences. We also find evidence that these factors operate differently in right-to-work and non-right-to-work states. Lastly, we find that large strikes are associated with higher average teacher salaries in subsequent years, but with no substantive change in student achievement.”

3. 3

   CAPIRE: Modelling the Impact of Teacher Strikes and Inflation on Student Trajectories in Engineering Education

   arXiv (Cornell University) (Paz)Published Nov 18, 2025Checked Oct 6, 2026

   “Lag analysis reveals that strike exposure exerts its strongest association with dropout two to three semesters after the disruption (OR = 2.34), and that effects are concentrated in early, high-friction semesters. We then embed these empirical patterns into an agent-based model, defining scenarios for inflation-only, strikes-only, and combined crisis. Simulations reproduce three stylised facts: delayed strike effects, basic-cycle vulnerability, and non-linear amplification when inflation and strikes co-occur, with combined shocks generating dropout levels 18-23% higher than the sum of individual effects. We argue that teacher strikes and inflation operate as structurally mediated educational disruptors, acting through curriculum design and financial resilience rather than as isolated events. The framework contributes to multilevel dropout theory by demonstrating how macro-level shocks propagate through institutional structures to shape individual trajectories and provides empirically grounded tools for scenario planning in macroeconomically unstable contexts.”

4. 4

   Academic adjustment and socio-economic legacy effects: Evidence from the years of the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall protests

   South African Journal of Higher Education (Papageorgiou & Callaghan)Published Dec 1, 2020Checked Oct 6, 2026

   “Using a sample of 1905 respondents, over these two years, structural equation models are used to test the contributions of academic adjustment to academic performance for first year accounting students, during the time of these protests. Three theoretical models are tested to explore the persistence of historically discriminatory legacy effects. No differences are found by ethnicity for the influence of academic adjustment difficulties on academic performance. Financially disadvantaged students are however found to be more vulnerable to the influence of financial disadvantage ‒ those receiving financial aid score lower in assessments, and their academic performance seems to be vulnerable to the academic environment dimension of academic adjustment. It is concluded that historical legacy effects ‒ at least insofar as they relate to student academic adjustment ‒ may be limited to financial resource constraints. More concerted efforts on the part of university administrators and policy makers may be needed to improve the university environment and increase financial support for those who remain affected by historical socio-economic disadvantage.”

5. 5

   Online teaching in response to student protests and campus shutdowns: academics’ perspectives

   International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (Czerniewicz et al.)Published Dec 1, 2019Checked Oct 6, 2026

   “During the period 2015–2017, student protests and university shutdowns rocked the higher education sector in South Africa, with key issues being raised regarding student exclusion based on financial, epistemological and cultural grounds. In this highly politicised and contested environment, some universities decided to use blended and online delivery as a strategy to enable the academic year to be completed and all curriculum to be covered, despite the disruptions. This was a controversial decision politically and a challenging one practically. From the perspective of the academics at the University of Cape Town (UCT), this paper draws on interviews with educators in three broad disciplinary areas to explore their views, practices, and experiences regarding the use of online materials in these unique circumstances. Activity Theory provides a framework to consider the issues systemically and to identify the tensions and contradictions in the system.”

6. 6

   The thought that i could continue with school got lost: a qualitative exploration of the impact of COVID-19 on the education and sexual and reproductive health of Malawi youth.

   Reproductive health (Togo et al.)Published Mar 5, 2025Checked Oct 6, 2026

   “Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were conducted in rural and urban areas with primary and secondary school students, their caregivers and teachers, and community leaders, providing insights on how the pandemic impacted them.ResultsBoth male and female students lost motivation to continue their learning during the COVID-19 related school closures and teacher strikes. Participants reported that some female students became pregnant, married early, and sometimes engaged in sex work to make ends meet. There were also reports of increased financial barriers to sending children to school when they reopened, and there were reports of lower grades and poorer quality of teaching post-school closures.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the need for community- and policy-level strategies to mitigate interruptions to students' schooling and protect them from outcomes like pregnancy and early marriage that could further hinder their education.”