Missing Early Education and Care During the Pandemic: The Socio-Emotional Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Young Children

Abstract

Worldwide, millions of children have missed out on early childhood education and care (ECEC) due to the closure of their settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about the socio-emotional impact of these closures on young children. This paper draws upon a study of 506 parents of children aged 1–10 years in Ireland who completed the online Play and Learning in the Early Years (PLEY) Survey during lockdown in May and June 2020. Parents responded to a series of questions about their child’s play, learning and development during lockdown, and described the impact of the restrictions on their children’s lives. The study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. Findings indicate that most children missed their friends, playing with other children, and the routine and structure of ECEC and school settings. Parents described the negative impact of the closure of these settings on their children’s social and emotional well-being, which they suggested, resulted in tantrums, anxiety, clinginess, boredom, and under-stimulation. However, some parents did report positive aspects of lockdown for their children and the family, including more time to play with siblings and a break from the usual routine. While the findings of the PLEY study indicate that children’s socio-emotional development was severely disrupted during lockdown, with a variety of negative impacts, this experience was not universal. Moreover, the findings suggest that families missed the nurturing environment provided by ECEC programs that supported their children's socio-emotional development, as well as the structure and routine afforded by their children's participation in early childhood programs.

Inhibitory Control, Student–Teacher Relationships, and Expulsion Risk in Preschools: An Indirect Effects Path Analysis

“…The indirect pathway from inhibitory control to expulsion risk through student-teacher closeness was also significant, indicating that student-teacher closeness is one mechanism through which stronger behavioral inhibition reduces expulsion risk. These findings are notable in the context of the COVID pandemic, in which many parents reported increases in tantrums, anxiety and clinginess (Egan et al, 2021) and early childhood educators reported declining physical and mental health (Swigonski et al, 2021).…”

“…This is an area of future consideration as schools continue to struggle with the need for virtual learning in the face of the ongoing pandemic as well as increased use of virtual schooling within early care and education contexts overall. It is unclear whether young children who are in school virtually are not demonstrating the same challenging behaviors as students who are in the classroom because of some of the positives of virtual education (e.g., more time to play with siblings) (Egan et al, 2021) or simply are subject to less monitoring from teachers, who may then be less likely to pick up on children's behaviors.…”

“…Additionally, data collection for this study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, which likely influenced relationship building with students over virtual platforms, child socio-emotional health, and stress levels of staff (Eadie et al, 2021;Egan et al, 2021;Patrick et al, 2020). Although we took teaching format (virtual/in person) into consideration in our analyses, the use of a simple dummy variable did not take into consideration the other nuances that likely played into teacher's perceptions of their relationships with students and children's expulsion risk.…”

Self-Perception of Quality of Life and Emotional Well-Being among Students Attending Hospital Classrooms during COVID-19 Pandemic

“…These programs might be giving support to students affected by diseases but added to that, might also protect them from the repercussions found in schoolchildren derived from the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, studies are already showing impacts at the level of anxiety, depressions, and other mental disorders and situations, such as social distancing, increased pressure on families, reduced access to support services, or exposure to violence, that have been aggravated by the pandemic [7][8][9].…”

“…Education administrations and schools are entitled to address the consequences of these disruptions in schooling and ensure the health and safety of students, their families, and school personnel [4]. Furthermore, although the scale, extent, and duration of the COVID-19 crisis makes it difficult to draw uniform conclusions about its effects on young children, some children will undoubtedly need additional support to overcome the negative impacts on their health and emotional development [5][6][7][8][9]. It is relevant to take into consideration that school is not only an education resource but, as a social environment that impacts social wellbeing, in many places it also ensures the access to benefits that families cannot provide to their own children [10][11][12][13].…”