Two years of Covid add a layer of anxiety for school students

AFTER two years of lockdowns, home-schooling and prolonged isolation, concerns have been raised about the longterm effects of the pandemic on children.

New research from leading integrative healthcare brand Flordis has revealed that 67 per cent of Australians are worried about how Covid has impacted students as they have transitioned back into the classroom this month.

Leading child psychologist Deirdre Brandner said the move back into schools still holds some “long-term disadvantages of the remote learning experiences”.

“Parents did their very best to engage children in schoolwork during this time, however the reality was that children had to cope with many challenges,” Ms Brandner said.

“Managing distractions, adapting to learning online, interrupted routines and lack of structured face to face learning experiences has impacted their cognitive abilities.

“Whilst kids are resilient, it’s important for parents to be conscious of the warning signs that their children are struggling cognitively, such as consistently losing focus, becoming very distracted and unable to sit still, or just generally not learning to the pace they used to be able to.”

The Flordis research, which involved over 2000 Australians, found that one in three Australians believe various school routine changes will impact children’s learning, as well as increase their social and general anxiety (23 per cent) and decrease their focus (22 per cent).

A large majority (66 per cent) of parents said their children had spent too much time on screens during lockdown, and (23 per cent) were unhappy with online learning – which has reportedly led to more distractions and struggles to focus.