Professor John Robertson OBA

In the Guardian today:

Girls in England say they feel less safe at school and are more disenchanted with their education, research has found. Using data from an international study of pupils at primary and secondary schools, researchers said the steep fall in girls’ “emotional engagement” compared with the years before the Covid pandemic has become a pressing issue for schools.

While the results from the international survey showed pupils’ feelings of belonging, safety and pride have fallen in many countries since the pandemic, researchers from University College London (UCL) found that England had one of the biggest drop-offs among girls in year 9, when they are aged 13-14, and was significantly lower than among boys.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/04/girls-in-england-feel-less-safe-at-school-than-they-did-pre-covid-survey-finds

The data used comes from 2023 but the researchers, typically, do not look north for comparison.

Looking at data from research by Pisa in 2022¹, it is clear that all forms of bullying are in decline, with only 9.4% reporting experiencing it in 2022, down from the 2018 level of 11.8%, and that Scottish students feel significantly safer than in other nations, on average.

And in England? No such breakdown seems to have been done with only this offered:

The report also found that the majority of pupils in England reported feeling safe in their schools.²

That it? Just ‘the majority’ is OK? 90% in Scotland reported feeling safe in Scottish schools.

Why no percentage we might compared with Scotland?

This sort of thing?

Violence fears make children miss school [in England], youth survey suggests

Results from the survey of over 7,500 children [in England] indicate 16% of children aged 13-17 have been a victim of violence. The children’s commissioner [for England] said knife crime and violence was the “number one issue” raised with her by young people.³

and:

Hundreds of children thrown out of school in English county lines hotspots ⁴

Sources:

1. https://www.gov.scot/publications/programme-international-student-assessment-pisa-2022-highlights-scotlands-results/documents/
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/england-among-highest-performing-western-countries-in-education
3. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/29/hundreds-of-children-thrown-out-of-school-in-english-county-lines-hotspots
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-67359254