Ļć½¶ŹÓʵapp

by Jess Gibson

The pandemic has negatively impacted the socio-emotional development of children from all backgrounds, new research has found. 

The study, which was undertaken by (IFS) and University College Londonā€™s , and funded by , focused on identifying the effect of employment uncertainty on childrenā€™s social and emotional skills during the first year of the pandemic.  

Researchers conducted retrospective parent/carer interviews in February 2021 comparing childrenā€™s current behaviour to that of a year prior, following ongoing national lockdowns and social disruption. 

The study found that 47% of families reported worsening socio-emotional difficulties among their children during 2020. In the same timeframe, just 16% of families noticed an improvement in socio-emotional behaviour.  

The IFS argues that the findings show that ongoing economic instability has an effect on childrenā€™s wellbeing and development.  

While almost half of the families surveyed experienced growing difficulties with childrenā€™s socio-emotional behaviour, evidence also shows that some groups were more affected: 

• younger children (specifically, four- to seven-year-olds) 

• girls  

• children whose parentsā€™/carersā€™ employment situation changed, even if they were furloughed 

The study also found that less-disadvantaged children were more likely to see their social and emotional skills worsen, though these differences were not statistically significant.ā€Æ  

Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:ā€Æ 

ā€œIt is incredibly concerning, though sadly not surprising, that such a high proportion of families have reported that their childrenā€™s social and emotional skills worsened during the pandemic.ā€Æ 

ā€œAnd while it is vital that, moving forward, all children are given the care and attention they need to make up for the ā€˜lost learningā€™ during this period, given the particularly significant impact of the pandemic on younger children, itā€™s clear that this needs to start in the early years. 

ā€œHow can it be, then, that at a time when young children need more individual and high-quality support than ever, ministers have chosen to take an approach to early years policy that will achieve the exact opposite? 

ā€œFrom the relaxing of ratios to the lowering of qualification requirements, the governmentā€™s insistence on prioritising increasing capacity in the early years over and above ensuring quality provision is the worst possible approach at the worst possible time.ā€