Girls' learning impacted by pandemic, report finds

A report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and Renaissance has found that girls' reading and maths results were more negatively impacted than male students by the pandemic.

The report is built on analysis measuring learning loss during the Covid-19 pandemic and outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

It considered outcomes by gender, special educational needs (SEN)by English as an additional language (EAL) and by region.

EPI and Renaissance found that the pandemic appeared to have had a bigger effect on girls than on boys, although girls still outperform boys in reading.

In secondary maths, for example, results have fallen for both boys and girls. They found that the gap in attainment has narrowed by over three and a half months to just 0.3 months in favour of girls.

For pupils with SEN, the report also found wide attainment gaps. In primary reading, the gap between non-SEN pupils and SEN support pupils has narrowed by one month to more than a year and a half (19.4 months), and the gap between non-SEN pupils and SEN with EHCP pupils has narrowed by 0.2 months to 26.6 months.

In terms of geographic region, Yorkshire & Humber was found to be the lowest performing region, with pupils more than four months behind pupils in London in primary reading.

As well as this, the report found that among secondary-aged pupils, pupils from Mixed, Asian, Black, and Other backgrounds have seen results in reading improve, while results for Chinese and White pupils have fallen (though the sample size for Chinese pupils is particularly small).

The author of the report, Jon Andrews, said the effects of the pandemic "have not been felt evenly."

He said: "The gap between pupils from low-income backgrounds and their peers has widened since the start of the pandemic, and outcomes for pupils from persistently disadvantaged backgrounds – those eligible for free school meals for at least 80
per cent of their time in school – are particularly low."

Renaissance is an education technology platform that aims to provide schools with resources to improve learning, and EPI is an independent research institute.