From Full Day Learning to 30 Minutes a Day: A Descriptive Study of Early Learning During the First COVID-19 Pandemic School Shutdown in Ontario

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, the lives of families all over the world were disrupted. Many adults found themselves working from home while their children were unable to go to school. To better understand the potential impact of these educational disruptions, it is important to establish what learning looked like during the first school shutdown in the spring of 2020, particularly for the youngest learners who may feel the longest lasting impacts from this pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of the current descriptive study was to gather information on how kindergarten teaching and learning occurred during this time, what the biggest barriers were, and what concerns educators had regarding returning in person to the classroom setting. The sample for the current study was 2569 kindergarten educators (97.6% female; 74.2% teachers, 25.8% early childhood educators) in Ontario, Canada. Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of both quantitative scales and qualitative open-ended questions. Educators reported that parents most often contacted them regarding technological issues or how to effectively support their child. The largest barrier to learning was the ability of both parents and educators to balance work, home life, and online learning/teaching. With regards to returning to school, educators were most concerned about the lack of ability of kindergarten aged children to do tasks independently and to follow safety protocols. Our findings highlight unique challenges associated with teaching kindergarten during the pandemic, contributing to our understanding of the learning that occurred in Ontario during the first COVID-19 shutdown.

Mental health disorders among students from rural areas three months after returning to school: a cross-sectional study among Polish students (12-13 y.o.)

Background: All over the world, the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children and adolescents’ mental health is observed. The conducted research aims to verify whether returning to schools, to the education inside the classroom in the company of their peers, improved or undermined the students’ mental health. Metods: The study was carried out on a sample of students inhabiting rural areas in a borderland region. The research sample was collected using purposive sampling and consisted of 552 respondents from 7th and 8th grades of primary school. An auditorium questionnaire was used to gather the research material. Results: Three months after returning to school, the students are in a bad mental condition. 61% of the respondents are satisfied with their lives, 52% of the respondents show symptoms of depression measured with the WHO-5 index, whereas 85% of them have average and high stress levels as measured with the PSSC scale. Higher levels of mental disorders was observed among females, the students inhabiting villages and evaluating their financial status as worse. Conclusions: Returning to schools failed to have a positive impact on the students’ mental health. Disorders occurring at a large scale will have a negative influence on the students’ performance and hinder their re-adaptation to school. Educational authorities shall immediately provide the students with support and monitor the situation in the next months.

‘Maslow before Bloom’: Implementing a caring pedagogy during Covid-19

The speed at which the novel coronavirus, known as Covid-19, spread around the world in early 2020, has been well-documented. Countries closed their borders, cities and regions went into lockdown, schools and businesses closed and hospital geared up for an influx of patients (Cameron, 2020; OECD, 2021; UNESCO, 2020). On March 25, New Zealand went into Level 4 lockdown, the most restrictive of the government’s alert level system. The school holidays, due to start on April 9, were brought forward two weeks to give the Ministry of Education and schools a chance to prepare for school-led home learning. A survey of schools highlighted that only half the schools in the country felt they could deliver learning fully online, with lack of devices and limited Internet connectivity being the major problems (New Zealand Government, 2020). Most schools moved into home learning on April 15 and continued until after May 18, when the country moved down to Level 2. On return, schools needed to alter their approaches to comply with social distancing and hygiene requirements until the country returned to Level 1 in June. In August 2020, Auckland schools closed again and yet again several times in 2021 (Author, 2020; Cameron, 2020; Education Review Office [ERO], 2021; Henrickson, 2020; Ministry of Education, 2020). The arrival of the Delta variant in Auckland communities, in late August 2021, led to further regional lockdowns, some of which are still in place at the time of writing. This article draws on in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 teachers in either late 2020 or mid-2021, as part of a larger study of New Zealand schools’ responses to Covid-19. The article begins with a short synthesis of research literature on teachers’ responses to lockdowns overseas and in New Zealand. The methodology for our study is briefly outlined before describing the ‘caring pedagogy’ theoretical framework that underpins the approach to this article. The findings are presented in a semi-chronological order, from teachers’ preparation, to implementation, to returning to school. The findings are interspersed with ‘found poems’ created from verbatim transcripts to highlight teachers’ voices. The discussion section revisits the concepts in the article’s title, that is, ‘Maslow before Bloom.’ The overall purpose of our article is to portray the tension between teachers’ willingness to adopt a caring pedagogy and the toll that it took on them, personally and professionally.

Career confidential: Principal ticked off about TikTok challenges

Phyllis Fagell offers advice to educators who are trying to support students who are demonstrating difficult behavior when returning to school after the COVID-19 pandemic. A principal is frustrated at the vandalism occurring at his middle school in response to TikTok challenges and wants to know the most appropriate way to hold students accountable. A teacher is having trouble reaching a student who refuses to engage in class, and his mother and the school social worker are also at a loss for ideas.

From full day learning to 30 minutes a day: A descriptive study of early learning during the first COVID-19 pandemic school shutdown in Ontario

When the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, the lives of families all over the world were disrupted. Many adults found themselves working from home while their children were unable to go to school. To better understand the potential impact of these educational disruptions, it is important to establish what learning looked like during the first school shutdown in the spring of 2020, particularly for the youngest learners who may feel the longest lasting impacts from this pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of the current descriptive study was to gather information on how kindergarten teaching and learning occurred during this time, what the biggest barriers were, and what concerns educators had regarding returning in person to the classroom setting. The sample for the current study was 2,569 kindergarten educators (97.6% female; 74.2% teachers, 25.8% early childhood educators) in Ontario, Canada. Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of both quantitative scales and qualitative open-ended questions. Educators reported that parents most often contacted them regarding technological issues or how to effectively support their child. The largest barrier to learning was the ability of both parents and educators to balance work, home life, and online learning/teaching. With regards to returning to school, educators were most concerned about the lack of ability of kindergarten aged children to do tasks independently and to follow safety protocols. Our findings highlight unique challenges associated with teaching kindergarten during the pandemic, contributing to our understanding of the learning that occurred in Ontario during the first COVID-19 shutdown.

Effects of School Closures Resulting From COVID-19 in Autistic and Neurotypical Children

The purpose of this study was to assess differences in negative consequences resulting from pandemic-related school closures between autistic and neurotypical children. We predicted that more negative consequences overall would be reported for children with autism compared to neurotypical children. We also expected to observe differences in the types of stressors reported between these two groups, with disruptions to daily routines more commonly reported for children with autism and stress due to social isolation more commonly reported for neurotypical children. Participants were parents of school-aged children, ages of 4–15 years old, who responded to an online survey (N = 250). Parental perspectives were collected using the Covid-19 Adolescent Symptom and Psychological Experience Questionnaire (CASPE). Parents in the autism group were additionally asked to respond to a survey about autism-specific stressors which may have increased during the pandemic, such as behavioral concerns, therapy disruptions, and hygiene issues. The majority of the respondents (65%) were parents of children with autism and 35% were parents of neurotypical children. Parents of autistic children were more likely to report that their child was negatively affected by routine changes, whereas parents of neurotypical children were more likely to report that their child was affected by social isolation. Overall, parents of children with autism were more than three times as likely to report negative changes in their child compared to parents of neurotypical children. When asked about autism-specific stressors, parents of autistic children reported concerns related to hygiene, behavioral regression, therapy disruption, meltdowns, and returning to school. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged school closures have disrupted the lives of children. Our results indicate that children with autism are at greater risk for negative outcomes due to emergency-related school disruptions. These findings have implications for educational planning for this vulnerable population for future public health crises.

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and COVID-19 Pandemic: Good Compliance With Treatment, Reluctance to Return to School

Objective: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has induced an exceptional sanitary crisis, potentially having an impact on treatment continuation, for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients receiving immunosuppressive therapies. After national lockdowns, many patients were also concerned about their safety at school. We evaluated the impact of the pandemic on the optimal continuation of treatment and on the return to school in JIA patients.Methods: JIA patients under 18 years of age, usually treated with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) were prospectively included during their outpatient visit and completed a standardized questionnaire. The primary outcome was DMARD treatment modification in relation to the context of the pandemic but we also evaluated the pandemic's impact on the schooling.Results: One hundred and seventy three patients from 8 different expert centers were included between May and August 2020. Their mean age was 11.6 years (± 4.1 years), and most of them 31.2% (54/173) had a rheumatoid factor-negative polyarticular JIA. Fifty percent (86/172) were treated with methotrexate, and 72.5% (124/171) were treated with bDMARDs. DMARD treatment modification in relation to the pandemic was observed in 4.0% (7/173) of participants. 49.1% (81/165) of the patients did not return to school due to a personal/parental decision in 69.9% (55/81) of cases. Two patients were diagnosed positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection.Conclusion: This study suggests that JIA patients treated with DMARDs continued their treatment during the pandemic and were rarely affected by symptomatic COVID-19. In contrast, parents' reluctance was a major obstacle for returning to school. Therefore, more solidified school reopening strategies should be developed.

Child-Focused Mental Health Interventions for Disasters Recovery: A Rapid Review of Experiences to Inform Return-to-School Strategies After COVID-19

There is a worldwide need for mental health interventions to address the mental health needs of children under 12 who are returning to school in the post-COVID-19 environment. The basic characteristics of child-focused, post-crisis interventions are currently unknown, but they are essential for developing high-quality, expedient RTC programs. We conducted a rapid systematic review, via established PICO methodology, to appraise the characteristics of such interventions. We queried databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, ERIC) for English and Spanish publications describing mental health interventions to reduce mental health symptoms and sequelae among children exposed to disasters and other community crises. We described the following characteristics: type of intervention, length, number of sessions, number of staff delivering the intervention, and other characteristics. A total of 18 original articles met the inclusion criteria: 11 correspond to a controlled trial type of study and 15 addressed PTSD after disaster or crisis situations. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was the most common intervention type, school-based/related interventions were the most common method, and five articles described an important role of teachers as mediators of therapy.

Primary Students’ Experiences of Remote Learning during COVID-19 School Closures: A Case Study of Finland

The remote learning period that took place due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 was a novel experience for many students, teachers and guardians in Finland and globally. To be prepared for similar occasions in the future and to support all students appropriately, it is important to be aware of students’ experiences. In this study, instant video blogging (IVB) was used to collect primary school students’ first-hand reports of their emotions in remote learning situations. Through an experience sampling method, 23 Finnish fifth-grade students (aged 11–12 years) took part in IVB during the remote learning period 18 March 2020–13 May 2020. Students’ expressions related to negative emotional experiences were more diverse than those related to positive ones. Nice was the most often reported positive evaluation related to studying. The most often reported negative feelings were bored and irritated, and the most often reported negative aspects related to learning were difficult tasks or not having learned anything. Towards the end of the research period, positive mentions about returning to school increased. The IVB method offered direct insight into how primary students experienced the remote learning period, which can support preparation for exceptional periods in the future and the development of digital learning solutions.