What Lies Ahead?

Emily: Covid-19 has brought uncertainty and doubt into many peoples lives, especially including lives of those who go to school. The impact of lockdown on children’s academic achievement and well- being is unknown due to the ever-changing situation, especially with the recent Tier 4 restrictions coming into place. Children, especially primary students, may be unable to grasp the situation we are in, which could affect their academic achievement. The lockdown in March may have led to a fall in children’s learning ability, as many may have not interacted with online learning platforms or at home-learning, but rather spent their time playing video games! Also, the social impact of not being able to interact with their peers would have been extremely damaging on a child’s communicational skills. It is not only children who are affected by Covid-19 restrictions on schools, but teachers too. The unpredictability of what is to come means that education leaders must put their health at risk in order to teach students in-person and offer a good quality education. 

Taylor: With the emergence of the new strain of the coronavirus many pose the question as to whether schools will be able to return in January. Currently secondary schools will have a staggered return to school, with some pupils starting the year with online lessons rather than in a classroom. There will also be Covid testing schemes implemented- which will offer school staff a weekly test and a daily test for seven days for pupils in contact with a positive case. However, the health secretary Matt Hancock said he could not rule out school closures of the kind seen during the first lockdown in March as the government battles the new threat, a statement further supported by Boris Johnson as he warned a new strain of the coronavirus pandemic was out of control. Teaching unions have also called for the return of schools to be delayed after it emerged that the mutation is highly contagious, particularly in children. Scientists have expressed concern that the new mutant strain of coronavirus can more easily infect children. Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said: “There is a hint that it is has a higher propensity to infect children. That may perhaps explain some of the differences but we haven’t established any sort of causality on that but we can see that in the data.” Currently the analysis of tests on 10,000 staff and pupils from Public Health England, Office for National Statistics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found 1.24% of pupils and 1.29% of staff tested positive for coronavirus in schools. It is such cases which have some of the greatest impacts upon wider communities. In a sign that ministers understand the fatigue of millions of parents who spent months trying to balance the demands of jobs and full-time childcare, the government has repeatedly reassured that schools will be the last thing to close in an outbreak.

Jess: The impact Covid-19 has had on pupils in secondary and further education is undeniable. Much like primary students, students within secondary schools have had their social development suffer as a result of the initial lockdown beginning in March. Specifically children going into year seven this year, their general behavior may have suffered through no fault of their own purely down to the lack of socialization within a school setting. Mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, have also sharply risen, particularly with students within older years and those set to take exams. Being trapped inside of uncertainty, quite literally in regards to lockdown, has left many students unable to see a future for themselves. Those taking exams face increased pressure, thanks to the lack of information surrounding this years exam procedures, if they are even to take place. Many who planned to go to university considered deferring, with the number reportedly being one in five students during the month of May. The impact Covid-19 has had on students in further education is quite clear, from the beginning of secondary school all the way through to university the uncertainty hanging over the heads have students will continue to impact their education for the foreseeable future.