Headteachers warn pandemic has left pupils 'feral' and unable to play properly
Joanna Lovell
Senior Social & Newsletter WriterMPs are now calling for a longer school day to help children recover – in both education and their mental health.
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Concerned teachers have told how many pupils are 'feral' in class, which they believe is a direct result of the pandemic disrupting their education.
They've also warned that younger children are suffering 'extreme' separation anxiety after being locked down at home.
MPs spoke out about the problem during a Commons Education Select Committee meeting on Thursday, after headteachers in their constituency reported concerns to them.
Robert Halfon, the Conservative chairman of the committee, opened the debate by warning that the impact of COVID-19 on education has been 'nothing short of a national disaster.'
MPs then gave a series of examples in which teachers had highlighted how pupils had struggled on returning to the classroom after lockdowns.
Mark Fletcher, Conservative MP for Bolsover, said:
'It's amazing how many of my primary schools have said that children, particularly the youngest, have returned and were unable to share space, were unable to share toys and resources.
'And actually, more than one headteacher has used the word "feral", in terms of behaviour.
'Pupils returned in a state in which they really had to be managed in a completely different way, on a scale that schools haven't had to do before.'
Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, says she's 'hearing all sorts of stories'.
She continues: 'They're telling me about the new Reception class that started in September 2021, these four and five year olds, so much of their lives have been spent in lockdown that they're suffering extreme separation anxiety from their parents.
'And as we go up through primary school age, what we're finding is in the older years the ones who had two years at home sat in front of laptops, they're finding it really difficult to play with each other.
'Young people ... don't know how to play football in the playground any more.
"I don't know about anyone else, it's these little details – particularly as the mother of an eight-year-old son – that I find really distressing: the thought that our young people don't know how to play with each other, they don't know how to share in the classroom, they don't know how to talk to each other.'
The concerns are very similar to that of a headteacher who warned last week that children have left socially two years behind due to the pandemic.
Jill Thompson, headteacher at Kelvin Grove Primary School in Gateshead, said some four and five year olds in reception classes are starting school 'more like toddlers.'
She too believes it's those in reception classes who are most affected because they have spent much of their pre-school life living in a pandemic.
She said:
'In particular our younger children starting school now in reception, they've had a hugely significant part of their life and developmental time possibly isolating, possibly not seeing many people, so we are seeing children – and it's very general to say this – often responding emotionally two years younger than they would.
'So in our reception and our nurseries we've got children who are very much like toddlers, because they don't know how to attach socially and that has to be a focus.'
Several MPs raised the possibility of extending the school day to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 on children's learning. Trials of longer school days have already began in Wales.
Education minister Robin Walker said that recovery in both education and mental health was 'key' for the Government, adding:
'The best place for young children to be for their education, their mental health and wellbeing, is in the classroom, which is why protecting face-to-face education continues to be our absolutely priority.'
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