Almost half of parents said their children’s social and emotional skills worsened during Covid, prompting warnings the pandemic’s impact on youngsters stretches beyond the classroom.
The finding is one of the results of a study run by the IFS and UCL’s institute of education, which also noted that reception-age pupils were among the worst-affected.
Children aged between four and seven were 10 percentage points more likely to have seen their social and emotional development worsen than 12- to 15-year-olds (52 per cent to 42 per cent).
The experts also concluded there was no evidence that youngsters from disadvantaged families fared worse – but they stressed that economic instability had a significant effect.
