Three-quarters of senior high school students felt they couldn't cope as well with workload during the Covid-19 lockdown, a study by the Education Review Office released shows.
ERO surveyed 10,000 Year 4 to Year 13 students and 694 teachers from 67 schools over the first few weeks of Term 2 in Covid-19 lockdown.
Learning from home lasted five weeks, or half a school term, for most students.
Just over half of secondary students, or 58 per cent, agreed or strongly agreed they had been able to learn from home compared to 78 per cent of primary students.
Boys were less likely than girls to say they were able to learn from home.
Older students felt the most concerned about not meeting expectations while learning from home, and that support was not always available.
'Huge workload set by teachers... it is more than what I'd get in school and I find it hard to balance school and life at home," one senior high school student reported.
"Sometimes is hard to sleep even when I know I have tried my best."
Another older student said: "It's really stressful because my work is so hard and it's not like I can constantly ask my teacher 100 questions and I don't have the same support that I would at school."
The study reinforces reports from students and staff during the pandemic that access to technology to participate in online learning programmes was a major obstacle during the lockdown.
"Sharing devices was more common among students within schools serving the most disadvantaged communities, but the survey also showed that more of this group tuned into Home Learning TV," ERO said in a press release.
The survey found Pasifika senior students from lower decile schools were more positive about learning during the lockdown period.
"It is possible these students had someone in their household who was able to assist with their studies," the department said.
The study reports teachers were focused on supporting students through the unprecedented event.
Around 80 per cent of students surveyed said their teacher had asked them if they were alright during the start of Term 2.
Teachers were concerned students weren't engaged, with less than a third reporting at the time they strongly agreed or agreed that pupils had been positively engaged in learning in the last week.
Only a third of teaching staff felt that could successfully monitor how students were going with their learning.
Over half of the 10,000 students involved in the study reported feeling that they hadn't received enough feedback from teachers.
ERO will release another report later this year focused on the effect of the lockdown on students and teachers, how schools responded and what preparations can be made for improving the experience in future lockdown situations.
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