British children ‘forgetting how to eat, regressing into nappies’ amid coronavirus pandemic: education watchdog
- A new report found children in their earliest years of education with working parents were hit hardest by pandemic-forced school closures
- Some previously toilet-trained pupils in England needed nappies again, while others had forgotten how to use a knife and fork, it said
The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, known as Ofsted, published five reports based on findings from more than 900 visits to education and social care providers across England since September. Some of the children most affected by the disruption of the pandemic were those in their earliest years of education with working parents, who “experienced the double whammy of less time with parents and less time with other children”, chief inspector Amanda Spielman said.
She said teachers reported some toilet-trained pupils needing to use nappies again and “others who had forgotten some basic skills they had mastered, such as eating with a knife and fork – not to mention the loss of early progress in words and numbers.”
Among older children, some had fallen behind in maths, struggled with literacy and concentration or lost physical fitness, the report said. Others showed signs of mental distress, which showed up in increased eating disorders and self-harm.
While most children have lost ground in their learning to various degrees since March, some have coped well because they spent quality time with parents and carers, Spielman said.