PUPILS were locked out of school for months in 2020 and early 2021 – and the upended education system now faces multiple crises as a result.
Lasting effects of the huge disruption are being felt in everything from attainment to attendance and behaviour.
The effects of Covid on schools is being felt from attainment to behaviour[/caption]
Experts say the legacy of Covid for education is “very serious”[/caption]
Edinburgh University education expert Professor Lindsay Paterson said: “The legacy of Covid for education is very serious.
“Although attainment in school exams by students from well-off families has recovered, the harm which poverty does to school attainment has worsened.
“The main reason is that, during the Covid school closures, children in families that couldn’t afford decent laptops or broadband lost out on large amounts of learning.”
Data shows Scotland’s performance slumped between 2019 and 2022 in the Programme for International Student assessment.
It tested 15-year-old pupils and also showed us lagging behind England in reading, maths and science.
The years 2020 and 2021 saw estimated grades for Higher and Nationaal 5s due exams being cancelled.
After exams returned in 2022, qualifications officials applied a “generous approach” to grading, and In 2023 they used a “sensitive approach”.
The 2024 results, under normal conditions, showed Higher pass rates fell from 2023 to 74.9 per cent — the lowest since 2019.
National 5 passes dropped to 77.2 per cent from 78.8 per cent in 2023, and were worse than pre-Covid levels.
Prof Paterson said the picture was “even worse” when measured by international standards.
He said: “Attainment of all students is down – rich and poor, very able and not so able.
“These international yardsticks show that Scottish school exams are becoming easier. That is bad for everyone because it makes Scottish school leavers less able to compete for the best jobs. It also makes the Scottish economy less competitive.”
Persistent absences have risen sharply, amid warnings that the lockdown closures have led pupils to think school is not that important.
In 2018/19, 30.6 per cent of secondary kids were missing at least ten per cent of the school year. That had risen to a staggering 41 per cent of kids in the past two years.
And teachers have complained of a rising tide of bad behaviour and violence in schools since the pandemic shutdowns.
Prof Paterson said: “School attendance since Covid has become much worse. Four out of ten secondary students miss a day a fortnight. Two out of ten miss a day a week. It’s impossible for anyone to do well if they skip school so often.
“Behaviour in schools is now, in many places, atrocious. Teachers report intolerable levels of interruption and petty disruption by a large minority of students, which harms the learning of everyone. A small minority is violently disruptive, physically assaulting teachers as well as fellow pupils.”
SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “The Scottish and UK Covid-19 Inquiries were established to learn lessons from the unprecedented events of the pandemic, which posed challenges to health systems across the world.
“We know the challenges which lockdown restrictions had on young people, but the most recent ACEL (Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence) statistics showed the narrowest poverty-related attainment gap in literacy levels across primary since records began.
“Recent official figures showed some welcome, positive improvement in attendance and persistent absence levels.”
