New research shows that young children are most affected by blocking Covid Early Education

The the youngest children suffered from the lock and the closure during the Covid pandemic, with a new study that found that the educational progress and social development of four- and five-year-olds were severely affected in the first year of school.

Aggressive behaviors such as biting and punching, feelings of struggle in the classroom, or congestion in large groups of children were some of the difficulties reported by teachers during the interview.

Claudine Boyer-Crane of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research said the results were worrying: “It not only indicates that children who started admission in 2020 are experiencing difficulties in specific areas of literacy and numeracy, but also less some of these children reach a good level of development. “

A study published by the Education Endowment Foundation found that parents and teachers are concerned that children in England are struggling with their emotional well-being as well as their ability to learn language and numeracy skills, after the start of admission classes after the early spring block.

“For many children, the experience of the blockade was complicated by cramped living conditions, lack of access to green spaces, problems with their parents’ mental health and financial difficulties. Starting school, they had to deal with violations caused by Covid-19 restrictions, only to then return to another closure after just one semester of study, ”the researchers concluded.

Teachers who spoke to the researchers said that because of the disturbance in some infants, “low self-esteem and self-confidence” and that more children than before, “feel overwhelmed” by learning.

Others highlighted the increasing behavioral problems observed when children returned to school, with some “biting, beating, unable to share,” which led to teachers having to focus more on helping children return to school.

Ruth Coleman, principal of Highfield School in Ipswich, said: “When children returned to our kindergarten after the pandemic, many struggled with vital aspects of early development, such as personal communication or overcoming in large groups of children.

“We saw more children who also felt anxious about being separated from their parents. Some children lagged behind in speech and language development more than we expected. ”

The study looked at more than 3,000 children who began the year of admission in September 2020, with their school year disrupted by a second block in November 2020 and a third in January-March 2021. Many of these children had not previously attended kindergarten or other first-year settings during the March 2020 blockade.

Teachers reported that some parents were unable to help their children learn during the blockade, making it difficult for them to learn to read and write. “Some parents found it very difficult to join, and perhaps we should have tried harder to get these children to go to school, as they are now far behind,” one teacher commented.

The study found that more children ended the year of admission lagging behind expected targets than in the years before the pandemic, with the equivalent of three fewer children in each class not reaching the expected level of academic, personal, and physical development.

Professor Becky Francis, EEF’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “The early years are such a crucial time for children’s development, both in terms of their achievements and their social and emotional well-being. Therefore, it is especially worrying that fewer children have reached the expected level of development by the end of the admission class. “