Scots teens spend more time studying than rest of UK

New research has found that Scottish school pupils spend more time studying than their English, Welsh and Irish counterparts – but the gap between affluent and disadvantaged pupils is twice as high as south of the border.

Scottish 15-year-olds are spending more time on non-essential study than the international average – 17.8 hours a week compared to 16.5 hours. It’s also two hours more than English teens spend.

The Sutton Trust research, however, highlighted that Scots children from affluent homes spend 2.9 hours more studying than pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds – in England, the gap is just 1.3 hours.

It also highlighted that high achieving youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds spend an additional two hours on study time than their affluent peers to get the same results.

Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “Outside of the classroom, an educational arms race entrenches advantage for those who can afford it. Our new research shows that pupils from better-off homes get much more help with their homework and private tuition than those from less well-off homes.

“We need to make sure that the academic playing field is levelled outside of the school gate by the state providing funding for private tuition on a means-tested basis.”