Paul Hopkins: Teachers! Please don’t leave those kids alone

So, Education Minister Norma Foley has announced a “two-track approach” to the Leaving Cert, of which nobody knows much other than it “involves exams and a second, non-exam, process”. The details will have to be worked out, she says, meaning she has just bought more time to figure out an Irish solution to a global problem.

It’s been a tough 12 months, a miserable time to be young. When the pandemic forced pupils into remote learning, children lost vital physical connections with their teachers. Gone were the morning nods of recognition in the schoolyard, the corridor chats and the over-the-shoulder homework corrections they were used to. Gone too were the opportunties to get to know a new teacher in a new year, no real face-to-face contact, with disheartened students shutting off their computer cameras during remote class — assuming they had one to begin with.

There is no shortage of studies to show that students perform better with a direct, one-to-one relationship with their teacher. A supportive teacher-student relationship also positively impacts on students beyond the classroom — and arguably amplified among students in ‘at-risk’ categories, those in poverty or with personal struggles.

Catherine Duplaa, a teacher at Ard Rí, Navan, says: “There's no replacement for ‘in person’ learning and students perform best in the positive, student-centred, environment. However, effective learning can take place in even the most challenging circumstances, with a little buy-in from everyone.”

The road back to the traditional classroom remains uncertain. Parents are increasingly concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their children’s well-being. According to a survey by St Patrick’s Mental Health Services finds that 70% of parents are “concerned” about their children’s mental health while 25% are “very” or “extremely” concerned. Such concerns include the lack of a physical presence with teachers in the classroom, children missing school friends, and the transition back to school and when.

The survey also finds parents “need assistance” when “dealing with their children’s anxiety, loneliness and isolation” as well as help with “developing their coping strategies”.

The death of loved ones, the loss of livelihoods and the mental anguish of living with the coronvirus has touched us all, globally, and will leave an indelible mark on humankind, not least because, even with vaccines, we are going to have to learn to live with Covid variants being among us, just like the flu, and all the changes of human behaviour that that implies.

Nowhere will this be more felt than among our young. When today’s children grow up, will they see themslves as a ‘lost generation’ whose lives will forever fall short — in the shadow of a pandemic?

The school and college closures and uncertainty over exams are one of the most visible — indeed, controversial — means by which Covid-19 is affecting young people. Globally, for, according to Unesco, the education of almost 1.6 billion children in 190 countries has been affected — that’s 90% of the world’s school-age children.

There has been a lot of debate over the exact role the closures have played in containing the spread of the virus. However, one can argue that legitimate scientific questions about the effectiveness of school closures should not be taken as a justification for reopening them too soon. We know that transmission is higher in densely-packed, indoor spaces and, if the danger to children is not as high as the risk to adults, what of those adults teaching them? And, crucially, children can become carriers who transmit to the vulnerable such as grandparents.

Only herd immunity can give us some sort of semblance of normality but, given the tardiness of the vaccine roll-out, we are being left with little choice but to write off the rest of the school year. An unlikely return to full normality, combined with the other stresses of living in lockdown is, sadly, bound to have serious consequences for our children and their cognitive, emotional and social development. There is too the consequence for mental health, our disadvantaged children paying an even greater price.

Duplaa, also a mother to two children, says: “There's a large disparity in the mental health impact on young people. Where we can, we support the mental health of those children in their homes. For teenagers, there's no doubt that the uncertainty and restrictions on their lives will have negative effects.

“Our job as adults right now is to be optimistic, to show young people the opportunities that can still lie ahead.”