Education experts raise alarms; “Our children are going to suffer!”

BY PAUL JUNOR

There have been many challenges that parents, guardians, and caregivers face as they navigate the schooling of their children in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CP24 reported on Monday, March 22^nd, 2021 that experts have raised concerns about the potential long-term effects on students. It states, ‘early research and anecdotal reports point to measurable learning loss, racial and socioeconomic disparities, and an urgent need to mitigate harms that may not even be obvious yet.”

This has drawn the attention of experts such as Amedeo D’Angiulli, professor of neuroscience at Carleton University who told CP24, “We need to mobilize more, everything that we can to help teachers deal with this crisis.” He believes that there will be an increase in developmental and learning disorders, which will be a direct reflection of delays in obtaining medical screenings and school interventions.

He states, “The real wave will be that in two, three years we’ll wake up and we’ll see that we have more social inequality, illiteracy and other things that we then need to fix.” This is a sobering prediction as it reveals that the present academic roadblocks that students face will influence the: emotional, physical, social and mental well being of students.

Amedeo’s conclusion is based on analysis of approximately 100 papers, which examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on education and child development worldwide. The data revealed that there is, “Delays at every age to varying degrees and in different ways.” This learning and academic gap will have greater long-term effects.

George Georgious, who serves as director of J. P. Das Centre on Developmental & Learning Disabilities in Alberta, analyzed early readers in Grade 1, 2 and 3 and compared their reading scores in September 2020 and January 2021. He observes that there was improvement in reading for the students in each grade but their reading levels were six-to-eight months below their grade level. He states, “Because they cannot read, they tend to also act out, so it’s related to externalizing behaviour problems. They act out, they are more aggressive, there is depression, and lower self-esteem.”

He believes that there has to be timely, target interventions as was done in Alberta’s Fort Vermilion school division in which struggling readers were exposed to focused tutoring four times a week which resulted in 80% of the Grade 1 and 2 students being able to read at their grade level. George states, “This tells you that if you don’t provide intervention right away, you will end up in a situation where most of your kids in Grades 1, 2, 3 will be reading well below grade level. If you act proactively… then you have good chances to support these kids who were left behind.”

Sarah Barrett is a professor of education at York University. She surveyed 764 public and private school teachers during May-June, 2020 and conducted in-depth interviews with 50 of them to find out information about their attainment of developmental needs. In a subsequent follow up in December, 2020 and January, 2021 she discovered that teachers expressed uncertainties with respect to the acquisition of social skills by the students. She states, “They sound really demoralized. They’re very glad to have their students in front of them again, but they know that the students that need the most are the ones that are not getting what they need.”

Students who have learning disabilities, racialized, Indigenous and English-language learners are of particular concerns to these teachers. She observes, “A full year is more than just a disruption. It means that across the entire system, adjustments have to be made.”