The pandemic affected the socioemotional development of around half of pupils in England, a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warns.
The findings have sparked calls from headteachers for better support for the rising number of pupils struggling with their mental health and wellbeing.
The IFS report states that, while “much of the focus post-pandemic has been on children’s academic skills and how best to support children to catch up on ‘lost learning’”, the impact on children’s socioemotional skills and wellbeing “have received much less attention”.
The IFS and UCL Institute of Education surveyed 6,095 parents living in England with children aged 4 to 16 in early 2021, at the end of the country’s third national lockdown.
Nearly half (47 per cent) of parents surveyed reported that their child’s social and emotional skills had worsened during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, compared with February 2020.
Damage to social and emotional development
This was even more pronounced for parents of children aged 4 to 7, who were 10 percentage points more likely to report that their children had seen their social and emotional development worsen than those of 12- to 15-year-olds (52 per cent versus 42 per cent).
Just one in six children saw their social and emotional development improve over this period, according to the research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
Andrew McKendrick, research economist at the IFS and an author of the report, said: “During the Covid-19 pandemic, children from all backgrounds saw their social and emotional skills worsen considerably.”
The findings continue to have resonance in the current cost-of-living crisis, he warned.
Mr McKendrick said: “Our research shows that another important driver of children’s declining skills was the economic disruptions experienced by their parents, whether or not those disruptions led to a large income loss.
“With the cost-of-living crisis currently hitting many families’ budgets, our findings are a reminder that economic uncertainty can have multi-generational impacts.”
Commenting on the findings, Geoff Barton, general secretary of Association of School College Leaders, said: “The pandemic has had a huge impact on children and young people. Their normal rhythms and routines were broken when schools were required to close to most pupils, and support mechanisms disappeared overnight.”
Mr Barton added that this, combined with events such as the cost-of-living crisis, had taken a “real toll on pupils’ mental health and wellbeing”.
In May Tes reported on research showing that the higher level of emotional support needed by pupils since the pandemic was taking a big toll from teachers, on top of increased time being spent dealing with behaviour.
Mr Barton said today: “Schools are doing everything they can to support pupils with both their academic and emotional development, but are doing so in the context of budget challenges and a lack of investment from the government in education recovery following the pandemic.”
He added: “There urgently needs to be extra funding made available for children’s services and, in particular, a rebuilding of capacity in child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs).”
Rise in child eating disorders
The IFS report has been published on the same day that children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza called on the government to focus on children’s mental health.
Her office has published an analysis showing that the number of children and young people starting treatment for eating disorders has more than doubled since 2016-17.
Around 11,800 children and young people began treatment for eating disorders in 2022-23, up from 5,240 in 2016-17.
A government spokesperson said: “We know children were amongst those most affected by the pandemic and we are committed to helping them catch up academically as well as socially and in terms of emotional wellbeing.”
“All pupils are taught about mental wellbeing as part of relationships, sex and health education, and we’re investing an additional £2.3 billion a year in NHS mental health services by March 2024. We’re also boosting capacity at children and young people’s community eating disorder services, helping them to treat nearly 50 per cent more young people in 2022/23 than 2019/20.”
