The Impact of COVID-19 on Early Childhood Learning, School Readiness and Wellbeing

Background: In 2020, the world experienced the devastating outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which negatively impacted children and their well-being. The most severe learning loss was reported in reading and numeracy, especially among low SES children. Aim: This study aimed to understand the connection between reception of children aged 0-8 years experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and their academic achievements in regards to reading, writing, numeracy and school readiness to better inform future delivery of childhood care and ECE policy measures. Methods: This was an exploratory study which combined parents, caregivers, and teachers’ surveys with children’s assessments to measure children’s language, numeracy and social-emotional development. Comparisons were made between the scores of children in study programs in the previous years before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study employs a scoping review of the latest systematic literature reviews, consisting of a review of reviews and meta-analysis studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children aged 0 - 8 years. Results: The COVID-19 pandemic produced stressors which exerted a heavy burden on the social and mental development of children and impacted their reading, numeracy and school readiness. The first three months of total lockdown in 2020 caused lack of targeted kindergarten instruction which exacerbated a significant learning loss of 16% in numeracy and basic math skills; an additional 16 weeks of explicit lockdown a year later in 2021 greatly worsened the cumulative impact of schools’ closures on learning loss in numeracy and basic math skills to 23%. Parents experienced difficulties in helping their children with online learning, and this caused delays in the development of children’s school readiness skills. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to massive school dropouts. For example, the number of school dropouts in South Africa increased from 250,000 in 2020 to 750,000 in 2021. In general, due to the COVID-19 crisis, primary caregivers and parents struggled to keep up with the provision of safety and care for their children, and the pandemic worsened the conditions for the already vulnerable families who lived in precarious conditions. Conclusion: The findings of this report provide awareness of the experiences of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is possible that different children may have had different characteristics, lived in more stretching and adverse conditions, or children from other countries had completely different experiences of the pandemic. Despite the remaining gaps, the study identified enough evidence demanding an urgent response for a conclusive worldwide research and urgent policy response mechanisms to address severe and detrimental negative impacts of the pandemic on children.