The second full national lockdown at the start of the spring term regressed primary pupils’ learning loss back to levels recorded at the start of the autumn term, new research shows.

And poorer pupils were found to be among the “biggest losers” from the crisis in the autumn, with learning losses equivalent to between a third and two-thirds of the progress made over the past decade in closing the primary school disadvantage gap, according to a new report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and Renaissance Learning.

The findings, produced for the Department for Education and published today, also suggest that, “given further restrictions to in-person teaching during 2020-21, it is likely that the gap could grow further”.

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The research found that:

• At a national level, by the first half of the autumn term (October 2020), average learning losses were 3.7 months in maths for pupils in primary school and 1.8 months in reading for pupils in primary school.
• Then, by the second half of the autumn term (December 2020), average learning losses had temporarily recovered to 2.7 months in maths for pupils in primary school and 1.2 months in reading for pupils in primary school.
• However, by the second half of the spring term (March 2021), following the national lockdown and restrictions to in-person teaching, pupil learning losses had then regressed to a similar level at the start of the autumn term, standing at an average loss of 3.5 months in maths for pupils in primary school and 2.2 months in reading for pupils in primary school.

The findings suggest that learning losses for disadvantaged children began by following a similar pattern to national levels - recovering over the course of the autumn term.

Covid catch-up: Disadvantaged pupils ‘hit hardest by loss of learning’

But it is not yet known how these pupils fared in the spring, with further data to be published by the DfE later this year.

In any case, the research found that the ​​​​​relative learning loss for poorer children, recorded in the autumn term, was the equivalent of losing between a third and two-thirds of the progress made over the past decade in closing the primary school disadvantage gap.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It is abundantly clear that a recovery programme is urgently required at a scale and scope to address this massive issue.

“Instead, we have seen this week a package of measures from the government that is lacking in ambition, inadequately funded and which has caused the education recovery commissioner to resign in protest.

“It has been a desperately bleak week for education, and for the nation’s children and young people, and we once again call upon the prime minister and the Treasury to step up and urgently provide the substantial recovery programme that children and young people need and deserve.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, also called for an “ambitious and properly funded education recovery package”.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that disadvantaged pupils have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and we are starting to see regional disparities too,” he said. 

“That’s why the government’s failure to back its own catch-up tsar’s plans for support this week was such a disappointment.

“The prime minister has previously said that no child should be left behind as a result of lost learning during the pandemic, but these grand statements are sounding increasingly hollow. Sadly, children and young people seem to place very far down the government’s list of priorities.

“A silver lining to this report, however, is that there is evidence that learning loss began to be addressed during the autumn term last year, before schools had to close again. Schools are doing great work aiding recovery and it is not a lost cause - they just need the government to back them with the resources they need for the job at hand.”

Jon Andrews, report co-author and head of analysis at the EPI, said: “This research shows that at a national level, primary school pupils in England were facing average learning losses from the pandemic of around two to three months by the start of the autumn term.

“Pupils were able to recover learning towards the end of this term - but then, as pupils missed out on in-person learning in early 2021, losses returned to around their early autumn level.

“Our data analysis points to a clear penalty faced by disadvantaged pupils during the pandemic - these pupils have seen greater learning losses than their more affluent peers, which risks widening the overall gap in educational attainment.

“We need to continue to look at how we can support all pupils through effective catch-up programmes, but especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, whose education has seen the most damage from the pandemic. It’s also important that policies address the large losses seen in certain parts of the country.”