A new UK research study released showed children’s literacy, math skills, communication, language, physical development, and personal, social, and emotional development were all negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic..Four and five-year-olds did not meet the expected development levels in 2021 as they reached pre-pandemic. .Professor Becky Francis, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), is concerned about the number of children the pandemic hampered their development..“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. So it is particularly concerning that fewer children reached the expected levels of development by the end of the reception class,” said Francis..The study found that the number of children reaching the expected development levels in all areas was 59% in 2021, compared to 72% for the 2019 cohort..This result equates to three more children in each classroom not reaching the expected levels by the end of the 2021 school year..Ruth Coleman, the headteacher at Highfield Nursery School in Ipswich, noticed that students had social development issues when they returned to school..“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 Coleman..“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.”.In primary schools, the younger aged children were most affected by the pandemic, which Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the EEF and the Sutton Trust, is most concerned about..“It is deeply concerning to see the wide-ranging impacts that the pandemic has had on the development of the youngest children. The early years are vital for social mobility as this is where gaps in outcomes first begin to take hold,” said Lampl..The pandemic hurt socially disadvantaged students harder than their more well-off classmates, according to the study..The student sample in the report came from Early Years Foundation Stage data and was conducted by the Education Endowment Foundation, the University of York, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, and the Education Policy Institute.
