Fall in senior pupils’ learning enjoyment

AUCKLAND: Only a third of senior highschool pupils enjoyed their learning in Coviddisrupted 2020, research shows.

The Education Review Office (ERO) surveyed pupils at 67 schools nationally just after Auckland's August lockdown and found 65% of primary school pupils in years 4 to 8 agreed that ‘‘I am enjoying my learning’’.

But the numbers ‘‘enjoying my learning’’ dropped to 39% in the first two years at high school, years 9 and 10, and 33% in years 11 to 13.

A broader ERO survey sent to all New Zealand schools at the same time found that 59% of the 1777 schools that responded had concerns about pupils’ progress and achievement because of the lockdowns.

The concerns were much greater in Auckland, because of its second lockdown, and in lowdecile schools and for pupils in years 11 to 13 who needed to achieve the national certificate of educational achievement (NCEA).

Only 24% of NCEA pupils nationally felt they were ‘‘up to date with my learning’’, compared with 48% of pupils in years 9 and 10 and 61% of primary school pupils.

The ERO research, published in four reports on the agency's website today, says anxiety about Covid and possible new lockdowns would still be an issue for pupils when they returned to school next month. It advises schools to monitor and support pupil wellbeing with staff teams and mentoring schemes.

The agency said noone had asked New Zealand pupils before whether they were enjoying their learning, but a preCovid trial survey of 2000 pupils in 2019 found that just over half of all pupils across years 4 to 13 agreed they enjoyed their learning.

That dropped in the postlockdown survey to an average across all schools of 49%.

ERO chief executive Nick Pole suggested Covid had ‘‘a slight impact’’, but said many senior high school pupils did not enjoy their learning even in good times.

‘‘We see a general trend that as kids get older, you do see a falloff in enjoyment. It's a feature not only in the New Zealand system but in other jurisdictions as well.

‘‘It's probably tied in with interests shifting and whether they are seeing that learning as relevant to their futures.’’

The reports offer a long list of ideas for schools, including mentoring schemes such as the Graeme Dingle Foundation's Stars scheme which trains year 12 and 13 pupils to work in groups with year 9 pupils to develop selfconfidence, resilience and goalsetting.

Stars national programme developer Adi Cummings said 659 peer mentors worked with 3018 year 9 pupils at 16 schools last year.