Professor Andrew P. Hill shares findings from a survey completed by students at NACE member schools during the recent period of remote learning.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, on 20 March 2020 UK schools closed their buildings to all but children of essential workers and those deemed most vulnerable. Since then, schools, parents and learners have adapted to a different way of learning and remote schooling.
For policy makers, government and schools alike, understanding the impact of lockdown learning on students is key to developing a recovery curriculum and support that will make sense in September. It is against this backdrop that NACE commissioned York St. John University to develop an online questionnaire to examine the study habits of students whilst at home. The questionnaire also assessed personal factors (perfectionism and perceptions of mattering) and stress. Alongside this, NACE asked senior leaders to reflect on what they were seeing in their own institutions and how this would shape forward planning – to read some of these perspectives, take a look at this term’s special digital edition of
NACE Insight.
Things we measured in the survey:
- Study habits. We measured how many hours students spent studying and the amount of screen time associated with studying.
- Learning strategies. Learning strategies indicate how successful students are being at managing their own effort, time and study environment (e.g. finding somewhere quiet to study).
- Stress. Stress is the feeling people experience when they are overwhelmed or the situation is uncertain. This typically manifests in concern, anxiousness and worry. Here we measured stress as it related to students’ future and educational and career goals.
- Perfectionism. Perfectionism is a personality characteristic that we know is related to more stressful experiences in students, but also is related to academic performance. Here we distinguish between striving (trying to do things perfectly) and concerns (reacting negatively when thing are not perfect). Read more about perfectionism and more able learners here.
- Mattering. Some students feel as though they matter to other people and other students don’t. We know that when people feel like they matter it has a positive influence on their lives. Read more about mattering here.
Methodology
A survey was distributed online. It was opened on 6 June and closed on 20 June. A total of 25 headteachers at NACE member schools agreed to distribute the questionnaire to their students.
A total sample of 724 students (247 males, 476 females, 1 did not provide this information) completed the questionnaire. Participants’ mean age was 14.83 years (SD = 1.22; range = 13 to 18). Students were in Year 8 (n=30), Year 9 (n=274), Year 10 (n=218), Year 11 (n=58), and Year 12 (n=132) [and 12 undisclosed]. Of the participants, 312 identified as more able and talented, 80 did not, and 330 did not know (2 missing).
Key findings
1. Strong learning strategies appear to reduce stress.
Overall students indicated that they had moderate levels of academic stress. In addition, the more stress students reported they were experiencing, the less time they were spending studying. Stress was reduced when students reported they were better able to manage their time, effort and study environment.
More able and talented students reported feeling slightly less stress and more confidence in their ability to manage their time, effort and study environment than other students.
2. Study time varies significantly and is largely on-screen.
Overall students spent 4.54 hours per day (SD=2.04) studying. Of which, 4.13 (SD=2.02) hours involved using a screen. A very small number of students were not studying at all (nine students or 1%) whereas others reported studying for 8 to 12 hours per day (58 students or 8%).
There was little difference between more able and talented students and other students. More able and talented students spent 4.68 hours (SD=2.17; range 0-12) studying per day, of which, 4.23 (SD=2.16; range 0-12) hours involved using a screen.
Those who identified as not being MAT spent 4.38 hours (SD=1.87; range 0-9) studying per day, of which, 3.92 (SD=1.77; range 0-12) hours involved using a screen.
3. Perfectionism carries both positive and negative aspects.
The more that students reported that they wanted things to be perfect, the more they reported that they were stressed. However, the more that students reported that they wanted things to be perfect, they also reported that they were better at managing their time, effort and study environment, and they studied more.
Unfortunately, the more that students reported that they reacted negatively when things were not perfect, the more they reported that they were stressed, and were worse at managing their time, effort and study environment. However, they did also study more.
These relationships were evident for both more able and talented students and students who identified as not being MAT.
4. Mattering really matters!
The more that students reported that they felt like they mattered, the less stressed they felt, and the more they reported that they were better at managing their time, effort and study environment.
The more that students reported they felt like they did not matter, the more stressed they were, and reported that they were worse at managing their time, effort and study environment.
Again, these relationships were evident for both more able and talented students and others. However, feeling like they didn’t matter was related to higher stress in more able and talented students.
Conclusions
Students surveyed are typically engaging with study at home. However, this varies considerably from none to extreme amounts.
If students are more perfectionistic they are likely to study more but will experience more stress and have mixed ability to manage their learning depending on whether they report difficulty dealing with imperfection.
Being better at managing time, effort and the study environment, and feeling like they matter to people (e.g. parents, teachers and peers), were factors related to less stress and more studying.
The experiences of more able and talented students have been similar to other students. However, MAT students appear better prepared to manage their own study, and to be likely to become more stressed by a sense of not mattering.
Key takeaways
- A focus on study skills, metacognition and wider learning strategies will help students better adapt to home study, and support wider independence.
- Boosting a sense of connectiveness to school, teachers, and peers is an important part of this.
- A focus on connectiveness and mattering is particularly important for more able and talented students.
For more detail about the survey please contact Professor Andy Hill (a.hill@yorksj.ac.uk).
York St John and NACE are collaborating on research and resources to help schools support learners with high levels of perfectionism. Resources are currently being trialled with NACE member and R&D Hub Haybridge High School, where teachers have received training to understand more about perfectionism and are delivering PSHE lessons in the subject to students in Years 10 and 11. Learners also have the opportunity to take part in an intervention workshop. The resources and lesson plans will be launched to more schools next academic year.
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