One in five A-Level students missed more than 20 days of school due to Covid disruption this year, a report warns today.
As pupils brace for their results this month, research by the Sutton Trust showed a third (34%) of teenagers who applied to university missed 11 or more days of school due to the virus - and one in five (21%) missed more than 20 days.
Schools remained open this year but the virus continued to wreak havoc on education, with staff and pupil absences and classes or year groups sometimes sent home for short periods.
The grading process is likely to be harsher with the return to normal exams, and there are fears about fierce competition for university places.
One in six pupils (61%) said they had fallen behind on their studies compared to where they would have been if the pandemic hadn't happened - slightly down from last year's figure of 69%.
State school students were more likely to be worried (64%) than private school peers (51%), the research found.
Pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to think they'd fallen behind their peers than white students by 41% to 23%.
A separate poll of by Teacher Tapp found 72% of staff thought the attainment gap would widen after the return of traditional exams.
Almost half of teachers (45%) involved in exam preparations said they didn't think the mitigations were enough to make up for pandemic disruption.
This figure was higher for those working at state schools(46%) than in independent schools (38%).
Sutton Trust chief executive James Turner warned the impact of the pandemic on education was "far from over".
He said: “As we approach results day and a more competitive university admissions cycle than ever, we must make sure that poorer youngsters have a fair chance to succeed.
"Universities should give additional consideration to disadvantaged students who have just missed out on their grades and make sure recent gains in widening access to higher education are not lost."
Shadow Schools Minister Stephen Morgan said the Tories were too busy "bickering among themselves they’re neglecting our children’s futures".
He added: "The Conservatives’ miserable failure to help children recover from the pandemic threatens to cast a long shadow over children’s opportunities and widen the already gaping attainment gap."
Tom Middlehurst, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said these students have "suffered more disruption than any cohort since the Second World War".
He added: "Opinion is divided over whether the adaptations to this year’s exams to mitigate for this disruption went far enough but, in truth, no system was ever going to be perfect in such difficult conditions.
“The great danger is that the disruption will have badly affected disadvantaged students in particular and that the gap between them and other students will widen in this year’s set of results."
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT union, said schools had done their utmost to prepare students but ongoing absence levels had made this more difficult.
He said: "School leaders do feel the government could have done more to help this year’s exam students but what is important once results are awarded is that universities and all onward routes for training, employment and further education take into account the realities of students’ experiences and work with them to get them on the right path for their futures."
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said the Government continued to fail students - and disadvantaged pupils were going to suffer most this summer.
She said: "A government seriously committed to levelling up would have made stronger attempts to mitigate the effects of Covid on exam preparation.
"It would have ensured the funding that would have prevented universities from cutting back on places.
"As it is, the government’s inadequate programme for educational recovery is compounding the damage done by the pandemic. The full effects of this double failure will be felt in the years ahead."
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "In recognition of the disruption students have faced, we worked with Ofqual to put in place a number of adaptations to exams this year. It is encouraging to see that over three quarters of those applying for university found the advanced exam information helpful.
"To help students get back on track we have invested nearly £5bn, with over two million tutoring courses already started through the National Tutoring Programme, across an estimated 80% of schools.”
