Elementary and Middle School Students in Seoul Have Fewer Trusted Friends to Rely On... "Impact of COVID-19"

Elementary School Students' Peer Relationships Drop from 4.41 to 4.16 Over 10 Years

Elementary and middle school students in Seoul have been found to have fewer friends they can trust and talk to than before.

On the 16th, the Education Policy Research Institute under the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's Education Research and Information Center surveyed 14,409 elementary, middle, and high school students in Seoul in 2021 about their satisfaction with peer relationships, including whether they have friends they can trust and talk to and whether they spend time with friends during breaks. The students gave an average score of 4.18 out of 5.

This is 0.07 points lower compared to 11 years ago (2010), when the same question was asked to 16,297 students and the score was 4.25.

The satisfaction with peer relationships among elementary school students decreased the most by 0.25 points (from 4.41 to 4.16), followed by middle school students with a 0.09 point decrease.

Students in humanities high schools saw a slight increase in satisfaction by 0.06 points, and vocational high school students by 0.01 points.

A representative from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said, "It seems that peer relationships have worsened due to COVID-19," adding, "Especially, urgent measures are needed to improve peer relationships among elementary school students."

The participation rates in after-school programs for Korean, Math, and English among middle school and humanities high school students also generally declined. In particular, the participation rate in Math for middle school students dropped significantly from 58.10% to 35.74%, and for humanities high school students from 78.88% to 13.79%.

For Korean, the participation rate decreased from 48.83% to 33.91% in middle schools and from 71.03% to 14.20% in humanities high schools. For English, it dropped from 60.26% to 35.48% in middle schools and from 77.28% to 13.46% in humanities high schools.

On the other hand, satisfaction with after-school programs increased. Middle school students’ satisfaction with after-school programs in Korean, Math, and English rose from the 3.4 range in 2010 to above 4.0 in 2021. High school students’ satisfaction increased from the 3.0 range to above 3.7.

Additionally, overall school satisfaction among Seoul students rose by 0.42 points (from 3.54 to 3.96), satisfaction related to learning ability development increased by 0.66 points (from 3.30 to 3.96), and satisfaction with school facilities and environment improved by 0.68 points (from 3.20 to 3.88).

Students’ perception of teachers improved from 3.62 to 4.17 points.

Self-assessment of learning attitudes, such as how well they concentrate in class, also improved from 3.70 to 4.01 points. Notably, humanities high school students showed the largest increase of 0.46 points (from 3.56 to 4.02).

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will publish the inaugural issue of "Looking into Seoul Education," titled "How Have Seoul Students’ School Lives Changed Over the Past 10 Years?" online on the 17th, containing the results of this survey.