5 days Ago By PA Media: UK News
Teenage girls in England are significantly less likely to feel safe in school than their male peers since the Covid-19 pandemic, a study has suggested. Secondary school pupils in England have some of the lowest school engagement rates around the world, according to UCL researchers. Interventions to help boost pupils’ emotional engagement with school are needed, with a focus on supporting girls to feel safe, the report said.
UCL researchers measured engagement indicators in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) – including liking school, feeling safe, belonging, a sense of care from teachers and pride in their school – and compared the data from 32 participating countries for the analysis. More than a third (34%) of Year 9 girls in England disagreed that they felt safe in school in 2023, compared with 15% in 2019 – the year before the pandemic, according to the lead author of the report. Meanwhile, one in four (25%) Year 9 boys in England disagreed that they felt safe in school in 2023, compared with 17% in 2019.
The researchers found that girls in Year 9 in participating countries in the study reported feeling significantly less safe in 2023 than in 2019 – with England seeing one of the biggest drop-offs. In 2023, girls in Year 9 in England were 22 percentage points less likely to strongly agree that they felt safe at school, a decline much larger than the average across the participating countries (13 percentage points) as well as the figure for boys in Year 9 in England (10 percentage points). Declining emotional engagement amongst secondary school girls is a “pressing issue that the English school system faces”, the report said.
The latest TIMSS study, carried out by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s (IEA), provided countries with comparable data on pupils between 2019 and 2023, as well trends. The working paper from UCL researchers suggested that the decline in secondary school pupils’ enjoyment of being in school since the pandemic was larger in England than in most other countries with data available. Overall, Year 9 pupils in England in 2023 had some of the lowest levels of school belonging among the countries analysed for the study – along with Australia and New Zealand, the study found.
A pupil’s emotional engagement refers to their enjoyment of school, their relationships with their peers and teachers and the extent to which they feel safe and that they belong in school. The researchers concluded that pupils’ declining emotional engagement with school was likely to be a “key driver” of pupil absences. Professor John Jerrim, the lead author of the study at UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, said: “The key finding in this paper is that the decline in emotional engagement is significantly greater in England compared to other countries.
“There could be several factors behind this, and the significance of the Covid-19 pandemic shouldn’t be underestimated. “The results we are seeing for girls are particularly concerning, with around a third of teenage girls in this country indicating they no longer feel safe at school.” He added: “Our research points towards something happening during the pandemic – quite possibly school closures – that has particularly impacted teenage girls.
“This may have particularly impacted girls’ enjoyment and confidence at school and their peer relationships. “What is really worrying is that there are signs from other evidence that this may well be feeding into greater school absence rates amongst girls and on to their educational achievement.” Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “We would like to see more research done to better understand the reasons behind this drop in engagement and to work towards finding solutions.
” He added: “We agree that things have changed since the pandemic, which disrupted not just learning but also elements such as school connectedness and social and emotional development and there has not been sufficient government investment to help schools respond to these new challenges.” A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “High and rising standards are at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, ensuring all children and young people can achieve and thrive. “This means ensuring every school provides a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment.
“Our Plan for Change sets out our relentless focus on making sure every child gets the best life chances, no matter their background, including establishing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, providing access to mental health support and making attendance one of the four core priorities of our school improvement teams.”.
