The BBC reports that the British Psychological Society warns that policymakers should emphasize children’s well-being rather than “catching up” with academics. They are concerned that children are facing too much pressure as the adults make decisions about what to do next. All schools in England are expected to open by March 8.
Dr Dan O’Hare, co-chair of the BPS division of educational and child psychology, said it was “absolutely understandable” that parents are concerned children have “been missing out on many aspects of their formal education” – but warned against setting expectations too high.
“The notion that children need to catch up or are ‘behind’ at school due to the pandemic reinforces the idea that children have ‘one shot’ at their education and puts them under even more pressure to perform academically after what has been a challenging and unprecedented time for everyone,” he told the PA News agency.
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What refreshing news THAT is. Thanks for posting. CBK
It’s good to see this being reported in the BBC. The mindset of the last twenty years needs to go. Boris Johnson said that “no child will be left behind” because of the pandemic. NCLB? Seriously?
LeftCoastTeacher I guess we should check with ALEC, the Waltons, et al, to see if they are either thinking about “going international” or have already done so. At any rate, the BBC report goes against the grain of anything coming out of so-called conservative politics today in the US where, apparently, money equals power, but loses the battle where educating human beings . . . to be human . . . is concerned. CBK
The U.S. and England are both infected with corporate G.E.R.M.s. The two countries lead education neocolonialism in other countries. Charles Dickens would have a field day writing about education today in the Anglo-American business empire.
Agree, LCT. This BBC breath of fresh air will probably be interpreted by Brit ed movers & shakers as a fart in church, just as it would be here.
The questions that need to be posed are: Behind what? Behind whom? I don’t understand why people have missed what the mission needs to be in a deadly pandemic – SURVIVE. Anything beyond that is gravy. These efforts to rush kids back to school and try to get them “caught up” blow my mind. Survive. Period.
My post of the other day addressed a very important part of the concern for their well being: Development of implicit selves.
Children must be given back what they’ve missed most by being separated from their peers: the ability to socially interact with them in a relaxed and not-otherwise-demanding environment.
Play, hang out, exchange pandemic experiences, all the while learning what this gesture means, what this frown means, what this blink of the eye means, frown, grimace, scowl, finger pointing, tip of the head.
Flat screen, flat person.
Hearing that the British Psychological Society stressed social emotional development over “catching up” academically got me wondering about how the disruptions in education during WWII were handled. Was there lots of hand wringing over how far behind children were in their academic studies?
How much “learning loss” was there during the pandemic of 1918?
Presumably all the children in Europe were set back by at least 3-4 years during WW2
How about during the Black Plague?
How much learning loss during that?
These are very important questions that economists should (and surely can) answer.
And how about learning loss during the Great Flood in the Bible?
And during the Ten Plagues of the Bible?
And during Moses’ Exodus?
I’m sure there’s a (fake) Nobel waiting for anyone who determines such things.
Right up Raj Chetty’s alley.
If Raj Chetty comes up with a model for learning loss during the pandemic, he can call it Learning-loss Addled Model Extraordinaire (LAME)
Running out of things to do in lockdown? 🙂
Black Plague Learning Loss
The Black Plague set them back
The children then, oy veh
An ignorance attack
Enduring to this day
Yeah, the Black Plague was a really awful time for learning loss. I don’t remember it personally but I have heard tales.
Since economissed Emily Oster is the expert on everything pandemic, perhaps she would do us all the favor of focussing her Einsteinian intellect on the question of learning loss from the Black Plague.
I’m sure she dash the answer off the top of her head, whence she dashes everything else.
“but warned against setting expectations too high.”
What kind of commie un-American blasphemous crap is that?!
Exceptionalism
Americans are exceptional
And looking for exceptions
The standard’s bi-directional
And open to defections