A new study has revealed that girls in England feel significantly less safe at school and have become more disengaged from education compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Researchers from University College London (UCL) analysed data from an international survey and found that girls’ emotional engagement with school has dropped sharply, raising concerns about long-term consequences on attendance and academic performance.
The study found that in 2019, 43% of girls in England strongly agreed that they felt safe at school. By 2023, this figure had plummeted to just 21%.
In contrast, boys also reported a decline, but their numbers fell from 41% to 31%, showing that the impact was more severe for girls.
Alongside safety concerns, girls’ sense of belonging at school dropped by 17 percentage points, while pride in their school fell by 20 percentage points. Both declines were twice as high as those observed among boys.
John Jerrim, a professor at UCL’s social research institute, highlighted the potential link between these findings and rising school absence rates among girls.
He noted that those who do not feel safe or engaged at school are more likely to miss classes, leading to potential long-term educational setbacks.
Jerrim believes the pandemic played a crucial role in shaping these trends. The girls who participated in the study were in their final year of primary school when the pandemic began, enduring prolonged school closures and major disruptions to their education and social lives.
He suggested that these disruptions may have negatively affected girls’ enjoyment and confidence at school, as well as their relationships with peers.
Other countries, including Finland, Ireland, and Sweden, have reported similar declines in girls’ engagement with school, indicating that this is not just a UK-specific issue.
Before the pandemic, girls and boys in England had similar school attendance rates. However, persistent absence—defined as missing 10% or more of school sessions—has since risen more sharply among girls.
In the 2023-24 academic year, 26.8% of girls in state secondary schools were persistently absent, compared to 24.3% of boys.
Bridget Phillipson, the UK’s Education Secretary, addressed the issue in a recent speech, describing boys’ behaviour as a “defining issue of our time.” She suggested that smartphones are contributing to the problem by exposing boys to harmful online influences.
Phillipson emphasised that mobile phones should be banned from classrooms, as they are “disruptive, distracting, and bad for behaviour.”
She also called for more male teachers in schools to serve as positive role models, noting that only one in four teachers are men, and the number is even lower in primary education.
The recent Netflix series Adolescence has sparked conversations about growing misogyny among school-age boys. Some experts believe that post-pandemic behavioural issues have led teachers to focus more on boys, further widening the gender gap in emotional engagement with education.
With attendance rates falling and concerns about school safety rising, experts are urging policymakers to address these issues before they lead to further educational disparities between boys and girls.
