Nearly half of principals say learning at their schools is worse than they would expect.
Nearly half of principals say learning at their schools is worse than they would expect.
The Government’s educational watchdog is “seriously concerned” about the lasting effects of the pandemic on schooling with nearly half of principals reporting learning was worse than expected, with the greatest impacts on lower socioeconomic households.
The Educational Review Office also found principals reporting large numbers of students falling behind - some behind by well over a year.
It did, however, find student and teacher wellbeing had improved since the height of the pandemic, which researchers said reflected policies in the area were effective and indicated current issues around learning and staff workload could be addressed with more targeted support.
“Although learners are happier and feel more connected to friends, principals and teachers are increasingly concerned about their attendance, behaviour and learning,” said Ruth Shinoda, head of ERO’s Education Evaluation Centre.
“Nearly half of principals said that learning is worse than they would expect at this time of year, with many highlighting writing as the biggest area of concern.
“NCEA attainment has also fallen, with NCEA Level 2 achievement rates below where they were before the pandemic.”
Image / ERO
The ERO report is part on an ongoing series monitoring the impacts of the pandemic on education.
For this report, the office focused on the experiences of learners, principals, and teachers. They received survey responses from 3052 learners in Years 4 to 13 from 98 schools; 1209 principals; and 349 teachers from 64 schools.
It comes as virologists warn of another bumper year for influenza, with an earlier peak – as seen in 2022′s “twindemic” - on the back of re-introduced strains and more international arrivals seeding cases.
Experts such as epidemiologist Dr Amanda Kvalsvig have called for improved ventilation and healthcare infrastructure to prevent further disruptions in schools.
Image / ERO
School regular attendance rates (attending more than 90 per cent of the time) plummeted to a record low of 40 per cent in term 2 last year as Covid-19 ripped through the country.
Record low levels of school attendance hit Māori and Pasifika in term 2 hardest with just 27 per cent and 26 per cent respectively attending school regularly.
There was also a dramatic difference based on socioeconomic factors, with just 25 per cent of deciles 1 and 2 attending regularly compared to just under 50 per cent of deciles 9 and 10.
While the latest data for term 4 showed an improvement to just over half attending regularly, it remained lower than the same time in 2021 when 65 per cent of students regularly went to school.
Image / ERO
It also showed a slower rebound for lower socioeconomic households.
Shinoda said inequities continued to be a major concern and had widened through the pandemic with learners in poorer communities being more impacted.
“Principals from schools serving poorer communities are reporting learners have fallen further behind.
“Covid-19 has had a serious impact on attendance, and challenging behaviour remains a significant issue, with four in 10 principals saying that learner behaviour is worse than they would expect.”
Shinoda said the pandemic had affected lower socioeconomic households much greater, with lower rates of attendance and bigger declines in educational achievement.
“Three years in which they’ve missed school, had to isolate, attendance has gone out the window.
“There has been a lot of disruption and in poorer households students have found it harder to learn at home, harder to access devices and study, often in large, multigenerational homes that might be more impacted by illness.”
Image / ERO
There were also reports of some students missing school to take up jobs to support their families.
Shinoda said there needed to be targeted reviews at schools to identify the students that needed the most support and the areas in which they were most struggling.
“The pandemic continues to impact schools. Only one in five principals think their schools have recovered from the disruptions caused by Covid-19.
“We also found that principals in small schools and those in poorer communities are finding it tougher. Principals in poorer communities are nearly twice as likely to say their school has not recovered from Covid-19 disruptions.”
One principal said: “The three years of constant lockdowns and illness has really set back learning and it will take more than just teachers’ and principals’ goodwill to rectify it.”
Another said large groups of students were falling further behind.
“We have students who are up to three levels behind but just as scary is that many of our average students are also a level behind just because work has been missed being taught. Huge learning gaps in maths and writing. It is a lot of schoolwork to catch up.”
While learners were most concerned with maths, both principals (51 per cent) and teachers (44 per cent) are more concerned about writing.
The ERO was also calling on the Government to make up for lost learning opportunities for all by increasing school attendance and time spent on learning.
“We also need to help learners catch up by better understanding where learning gaps are and by prioritising skills like reading, writing and numeracy,” Shinoda said.
“Finally, we need to target support for those schools who need it the most and support educators to respond to the ongoing challenges.”
Ministry of Education’s Sean Teddy said they supported the findings and already had a range of initiatives to address attendance, behaviour and learning issues.
Their latest offer for teachers would also balance “significant improvements in remuneration and a comprehensive range of other conditions to improve opportunities for teachers and principals to deliver great teaching and support for students”.
