The Covid pandemic is continuing to have a negative impact on learning and teaching, with teachers saying that students’ basic skills are less well developed and their concentration is poorer.
Teachers also report that students have become less resilient and are finding exams more stressful.
Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) research published today shows, too, that student attendance is a key concern for teachers.
The SQA research surveyed 3,437 students and 1,237 teachers about their experience of national qualifications in 2022-23.
It follows data published last week that showed 41 per cent of secondary students were persistently absent from school in 2022-23, meaning that they failed to attend 10 per cent or more of lessons.
More learners ‘refuse to attend classes’
The SQA research states: “The most frequently cited continued impact of the pandemic from practitioners concerned learner attendance. There was the suggestion that some learners now see attendance as flexible, while several respondents linked the decline in attendance to a rise in anxiety and mental health issues. There were also repeated mentions of gaps in learners’ skills after the experiences of Covid-19.”
More in-depth analysis of teacher responses to the survey shows that “more learners now simply refuse to attend classes” and families are finding it “more acceptable now to take their children out of school, such as for holidays”.
In the SQA research, 63 per cent of learners and 71 per cent of teachers agreed that pandemic disruption had a substantial impact on teaching and learning in 2022-23.
In a briefing for journalists today, SQA researchers said disruption caused by the pandemic in 2022-23 was perceived to be less acute than in previous years.
Covid impact ‘complex and quite substantial’
However, Simon Allan, head of research and evaluation at the SQA, said it was becoming increasingly apparent that while there were “some signs of recovery…the impact of the pandemic is both complex and quite substantial”.
He added: “It seems very, very likely to us from this point that it will take several years for that to fully resolve.”
Only 15 per cent of teachers agreed that the education system as a whole had recovered well from the pandemic.
Some 87 per cent agreed that many students continued to be affected by the experiences of Covid-19.
When comparing students to their predecessors before the pandemic:
- 94 per cent of teachers agreed that many students are less resilient
- 76 per cent agreed that many students find external assessment more stressful
- 84 per cent agreed that many students are not as well prepared to study for national qualifications
- 90 per cent agreed that many students have lower levels of focus in class.
The report is one of a number published today by the SQA; all the reports can be accessed here.
The SQA has also published:
Annual reports into student and centre malpractice. In 2022-23, there were 145 cases of candidate malpractice in National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses, up from 76 in the 2021-22 session. The 2022-23 figure represented 0.027 per cent of the 540,950 entries for these courses.
A report on the relationship between teacher estimates and results in Scotland. In total, around half (49.8 per cent) of final grades were the same as those estimated by teachers in 2023, while 31.9 per cent of entries were awarded a higher grade and 18.3 per cent a lower grade.
An analysis of dual entry after 2023 found the highest count of dual presentations, when candidates are presented at both N4 and N5 in a given subject in the same exam diet. There were 30,295 dual-presentation entries in 2023, up from 20,960 in 2022 and 13,560 in 2019. The analysis says that English and maths are generally the N5 qualifications with the highest number of dual-presentation entries, followed by biology, history, physics and modern studies.
An analysis of National 5 maths. The proportion of students attaining an A to C grade for N5 fell below pre-pandemic levels. The analysis looks at the impact of dual presentation and also the increase in candidates taking N5 maths for the first time in S5 and S6.
Martyn Ware, SQA director of policy, analysis and standards, said today’s findings would help “build a picture of the experiences of learners, teachers, lecturers and senior examiners from across Scotland in 2023 as we continue to work through the long-term impact of the Covid pandemic on our education system.”
He added: “It is important that we share the findings of this extensive research with the wider education community and explore with them the implications for our future approaches. The research will add to the other sources of insight into how the 2022-23 session performed, such as national attainment data published last August.
“Understanding the benefits and challenges of different arrangements is invaluable and creates a record and evidence base to support continued dialogue and decision making as Scotland continues to consider the scale and scope of education reform.”
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