The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
‘Traumatic’ impact of lockdown in schools
Fighting, truancy, lateness and a lack of respect. All have increased in schools since Covid, according to a Moray head teacher who has revealed the impact of lockdown and alarming issues with pupil behaviour.
The whistleblowing accounts reaffirm views from another head teacher at a north-east secondary school – that pupil behaviour has deteriorated since lockdown.
The head teacher at a secondary school in Moray has revealed changes in pupil behaviour since schools reopened after shutting for five months during 2020.
Among the behaviours noted are:
An increase in fighting between pupils.
Lateness to class. Refusal to follow instructions or go to lessons.
A large increase in absenteeism, although that’s a UK-wide issue.
A lack of respect for people and systems that are in place.
And three-and-a-half years after schools reopened, some pupils are still unable to fulfil a full timetable.
The head said: “Some of our pupils are struggling to cope with a full timetable.
“There have always been pupils who find being in large classrooms causes them anxiety but I’d say we probably have seen an increase in that since we came back from lockdown.
“For whatever reason, anxiety has increased among a lot of our young people.
“So we’ve got a range of bespoke timetables to allow pupils to access education and build back up to full-time.”
Asked whether the head teacher thought deteriorating behaviour and increased anxiety were linked to lockdown, they said: “I’m not a psychologist but there could be a
connection. During lockdown, I think some of our young people found themselves in routines that weren’t as healthy, sleeping longer, and not following the routine that school forces upon them.
“So I think there is a legacy there. Routines were so askew that some pupils found it really, really difficult to come back and be in a school routine.”
Anne Keenan, of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said there were a number of factors behind deteriorating pupil behaviour, including lack of investment, teacher shortages and societal issues.
But she called out the impact of Covid on youngsters as “traumatic”.
“We can’t ignore the traumatic impact of Covid.
“We can’t forget that what that has produced is a generation of children whose personal and social and emotional development has been seriously inhibited.”
The north-east head teacher mentioned pupils transitioning to S1 from P7 are noticeably less mature than before Covid.
Anne said: “It’s a crucial stage and what we’re seeing is young people struggling to express their feelings.
“That’s then displaying as perhaps anger, confusion, frustration. And that can come out as violence and aggression.”
A major survey by the EIS laid bare the scale of violence in schools.
More than four in five said there are incidents of “violence and aggression” every week in school.
And in a more recent survey by the union GMB Scotland, almost every pupil support assistant – 98% – in Aberdeen said they had witnessed or suffered violence or verbal abuse.
The Moray head teacher said pupils were more likely to “sort things out” physically than previously.
“Covid has certainly affected our young people, but I don’t know to what extent these problems are totally down to Covid.
“I think social media has a huge influence. I’m quite sure if social media wasn’t a thing, we wouldn’t see some of these behaviours.”
They added: “The vast majority of our pupils have exemplary behaviour and I think in times like these when we see unusual behaviours, the bad sometimes clouds the good we see every day.”