Glasgow and Fife council areas hardest hit by school absences
Areas with high levels of deprivation and high levels of Covid-19 are seeing the highest impact on school attendance, a new analysis of figures suggests.
The analysis, carried out by Barr y Black and Amy Lee Fraioli, adds further evidence to the suggestion C ovid -19 could impact and widen the attainment gap in Scotland’s schools.
It follows similar analysis from the Scottish Conservatives earlier this month that showed the poor est pupils were more likely to be off school due to Covid-19.
However, the new statistics paint a stark picture of regional differences, with attendance down 8.55 per cent in Glasgow and 7.15 per cent in Fife.
This is in comparison to Edinburgh and Aberdeen where attendance is down just 0.8 and 0.75 per cent respectively when compared with data from 2018/19.
Older pupils in S4, S5 and S6 – those most likely to be sitting exams in 2021 – are also the most likely to be off, adding further fuel to fears of an impact to the attainment gap.
Mr Black, an education researcher at the University of Glasgow, compiled the data. He said: “This data clearly shows that the education experience of Covid-19 has not been equitable.
"We can see large regional differences in attendance data, with the most deprived areas of the country impacted the most. Further, we know that it is poorer, older pupils [who are] the most likely to be missingschool.T his data must really give us pause about what the pandemic maybe doing in widening the attainment gap and having that at the fore front of our minds when making decisions.'
Scottish Labour’s education spokesman Iain Graycri ticised the SNP’S handling of education while in power and called for “meaningful action” to tackle the impact of Covid-19 on the attainment gap.
He said: “These statistics lay bare the way the pandemic is making long-standing ine - qualities in education in Scotland worse by the day.
“Pupils must not pay for SNP inaction. We have to see meaningful action now to address the impact of C ovid on the attainment gap, starting with the publication of the long overdue equity audit promised by John Swinney.”