Targets to improve reading and maths in disadvantaged schools still not met

Despite considerable upheaval in schools amid the pandemic, primary school children have maintained their overall performance in English reading and maths. File picture: PA

Ambitious targets to improve reading and maths skills for the most disadvantaged students by 2020 have not yet been met.

However, despite considerable upheaval in schools amid the pandemic, primary school children have maintained their overall performance in English reading and maths.

Although a gap remains between students in disadvantaged schools (DEIS) and non-DEIS schools, it did not widen significantly during the pandemic.

One in four (25%) students in DEIS schools were found to be reading at higher levels, an increase on recent years.

Key targets set in 2017 aiming to tackle educational disadvantage and narrow the gaps have been missed.

These targets were included in a review of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, which aimed to raise standards in maths and reading.

Namer study 

The findings are included in the National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading (NAMER) 2021, conducted by the Educational Research Centre and published by the Department of Education on Tuesday morning.

More than 10,000 students in second and sixth class in 188 primary schools took part in the study, which was examined for the first time in 1972.

NAMER 2021 includes a larger sample of children from disadvantaged schools (DEIS) to allow for more detailed analysis and comparison with pupils in non-DEIS schools.

The tests took place during the first two weeks of May 2021, with the study originally scheduled to take place in spring 2020.

Due to the pandemic, it was also decided to adapt the study; pupils in second class took the English reading test only, and pupils in sixth class took the maths test only.

Those who took part experienced two months of remote teaching and learning in January and February 2021, having returned to face-to-face teaching in school in March 2021.

The study compared the performance of students in 2021 with that of pupils who took part in NAMER 2014, the first national assessment since 1980 in which significant increases were observed.

In non-DEIS schools overall, scores in reading and maths tended to be “marginally” lower in 2021, when compared to 2014.

Where decreases were recorded, these were found not to be “statistically significant”.

Revised targets for English reading and maths, also set in 2017 as part of a review of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, were not reached in NAMER 2021.

The results do fall within the original targets set in the original 2011 strategy.

Results 'reassuring'

According to the Educational Research Centre, it is reassuring that the 2021 results were broadly consistent to 2014, “despite the significant challenges for the education system during the covid-19 pandemic". 

The target to reduce the percentage of pupils performing at or below a lower level in maths to 20% was also not reached in 2021. The percentage of pupils performing at this lower level was found to be “statistically significantly higher” than the target at 27.3%.

At the upper end of the achievement distribution, 41.4% of pupils performed at or above a higher level in 2021, statistically significantly lower than the target of 50%.

When it came to disadvantaged schools, the study found no significant gains or falls in the average scores in Urban DEIS schools between 2014 and 2021.

Despite the evidence of learning loss and the impact of covid-19 on pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, the study found no significant gains or falls in the average scores in urban DEIS schools between 2014 and 2021.

It also found no evidence of a significant change in the achievement gap between urban non-DEIS and DEIS schools during the same timeframe.

The average sixth class maths score of students in DEIS urban band 2 schools was also not significantly different to the mean score in urban non-DEIS schools, and a target for high achievers in reading at second class in DEIS urban band 1 schools was met.

Two-fifths of second-class pupils in DEIS urban band 1 schools were found to be reading at the lower levels, and almost half of sixth class pupils were found to be performing at the lower level in maths.

Three out of four numeracy and literacy targets specifically relating to disadvantaged schools were not met.

These included reducing the percentage of second-class students reading at lower levels, from 44% to 40%; reducing the percentage of sixth-class students performing at the lower levels in maths from 50% to 42%; and increasing the percentage of ‘high achievers’ in sixth class maths from 19% to 27%.

The number of ‘high achievers’ in second-class reading did increase from 18% to 25%, meeting the target.

NAMER 2021 and NAMER: A focus on achievement in urban DEIS schools are two of three reports administered by the Education Research Centre and published by the Department of Education on Tuesday morning.