Secondary students' interest in studies waned during pandemic

A new study got the views of more than 1,000 second-level students and more than 700 school teachers. It found that students in Junior Cycle were three times less likely to report active engagement with education than in other year groups.

There was a marked drop in student interest in their studies at second level, with a lack of support and availability of devices also linked to a fall-off in engagement with schooling during the pandemic.

The finding is included in a new study which got the views of more than 1,000 second-level students and more than 700 teachers. It also found students in Junior Cycle were three times less likely to report active engagement with education than in other year groups.

The research, Connection before content: using multiple perspectives to examine student engagement during Covid-19 school closures in Ireland, was written by a team from the School of Education at Trinity College Dublin, led by Aibhin Bray.

Online teaching and learning

It looked at the extent to which student-teacher relationships, and modes of online teaching and learning, impacted on student engagement during Covid-19 school closures in Irish second-level schools. 

A total of 723 post-primary school teachers from 102 schools completed a survey, while the student sample involved 1,004 post-primary participants, drawn from 15 Dublin-based, post-primary schools linked to the Trinity Access participation programme. 

The authors said the source of the student sample meant those who opted to take part are likely to be those who are more engaged with their education and reported adequate access to the necessary resources to participate in online learning.

According to the study: "Overall, teachers reported a drop in student engagement with learning during the period of remote learning. In response to the question ‘Since school closures, and for each of the following types of students, do you feel that “attendance” and engagement with schooling has decreased, stayed the same, increased?’, [the response data] shows a drop in engagement of almost 40% for students considered ‘regular attenders’ by their teachers and 70% for students considered ‘reluctant attenders’.

Key barriers to student engagement

"The key barriers to student engagement with online learning identified by teachers include a lack of interest from the student (19%) and a lack of support from the home (18%), as well as factors relating to availability of devices (18%) and technological knowhow (14%). 

It is notable that the barrier that teachers indicated as having the strongest negative effect on student learning was a perceived lack of student interest."

It said the technical barriers, such as access to devices, broadband and data, had less impact than motivational and social barriers, such as student interest and home support, when it came to measuring the fall-off in engagement. It also found low student engagement was significantly more prevalent in Deis schools.

"One of the student characteristics that was identified as predictive of low active engagement was related to age and stage in school, with students in Junior Cycle three times less likely to report active engagement with education than in other year groups," it said.

Describing the "dramatic impact" of Covid-19 on education here, the authors said: "Our findings highlight that the move to remote schooling appears to have further compounded existing inequalities with regards to material, social and cultural resources."

The research was published in Irish Education Studies.