As part of The Herald’s coverage of 2024 exam results, which showed pass rates falling while attainment gaps increase, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley explains the impact of Covid on Scottish education and calls for “significantly greater investment” from the Scottish Government and local councils. Despite the colossal commitment and effort of the teaching workforce, the impact of the Covid pandemic on young people’s learning experience was profound, and the consequences continue to impact on young people today. The stresses placed on young people during the pandemic, throughout each lockdown period and beyond, are immeasurable.
The consequences will be long-lasting and have the potential to impact on young people for many years to come. The impact on young people from less affluent backgrounds has been particularly painful, with serious consequences for educational equity and the drive to tackle the attainment gap which, as we saw this week, continues to persist and actually grew based on this year’s SQA results. Most of this year’s National 5 candidates experienced severe disruption to their final primary year and first year in secondary.
Every teacher knows that this transitional stage is absolutely critical, but it is even more so for young people who are from disadvantaged backgrounds and for those with additional support needs. Ordinarily, schools work tirelessly and with stretched resources to seek to ensure enhanced and seamless transitions for these .