Concern over young children’s development after lockdowns
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
The proportion of reception-aged children developing as expected academically, emotionally and in their communication has dropped markedly following Covid-19 lockdowns, new research shows.
While in 2019 almost three quarters of reception age children were at their expected level of development, this plummeted to around six in ten by 2021.
Other areas of development looked at include children’s literacy, maths, and their personal and social skills. Physical development is also examined as part of the research.
The equivalent of three more children in each classroom on average are not reaching their expected levels of development by the end of their reception year compared with levels seen in 2019, according to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), which has published the research.
The EEF is particularly concerned that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are being hardest hit, with the attainment gap growing between this group of children and their classmates.
“The early years are such a crucial time for children’s development, both in terms of their attainment outcomes and their social and emotional wellbeing,” said EEF chief executive Becky Francis.
“So it is particularly concerning that fewer children reached the expected levels of development by the end of reception class.
“Today’s new report adds to a growing body of research that gives us a more robust understanding of how children and young people have been affected by the pandemic.”
🚨 NEW EEF report finds fewer four- and five-year-olds are meeting expected levels of development than before the pandemic.
— EEF (@EducEndowFoundn) May 18, 2022
🔎 Find out more: https://t.co/NLFTuoz1cY
📑 Read the full report: https://t.co/X1PuZwSrtQ pic.twitter.com/zncDA1P0Sg
Schools are urged to take action to ensure they have the resources to support pupils to recover as the UK emerges from the pandemic.
This includes ensuring there is “high quality teaching” that focuses on improving attainment, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
Targeted academic support that is tailored to specific students and can complement classroom teacher is also recommended in the report.
Schools need to ensure that barriers to improving attainment are tackled, including poor attendance and behaviour.
“When children returned to our nursery after the pandemic, many struggled with vital aspects of early years development, such as personal touch, or coping in bigger groups of children, said Ruth Coleman, a headteacher at a nursery school in Ipswich.
“We saw more children who had separation anxiety from their parents too. Some children were further behind with speech and language development than we’d expect.”
She added that action the school has taken includes improving communication with parents and families online.
Another primary school leader, from London, told researchers: “In our current Key Stage 1 cohort, more pupils are struggling to focus and retain information.
“We’re also seeing a real difference in progress between pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers, with the pupils from families who were able to support home learning making better strides towards recovery.”
The EEF commissioned research was carried but by researchers at University of York, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and the Education Policy Institute (EPI).
“Our research reveals some worrying findings,” added NIESR associate research director Claudine Bowyer-Crane.
“Not only does it suggest that children who started Reception in September 2020 are struggling in the specific learning areas of literacy and maths, but also that a smaller proportion of these children are achieving a good level of development, when compared to children in the pre-pandemic cohort," she said.
Early Years Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch said the pandemic’s impact on young children’s development is “disheartening”.
“This research highlights just how important early education is in laying the foundations for a child’s future,” he said.
“Despite the disruption brought on by the pandemic, early years providers have gone above and beyond to help young children catch-up on vital education.”
