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School Leaders Focus On Student Well-Being After Lockdowns

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School leaders are focusing on student well-being in the wake of lockdowns and school closures, according to a new report.

More than half of school principals said well-being would be a greater priority in the future, as the pandemic continues to disrupt education around the world.

The commitment to well-being comes after studies suggest lockdowns and school closures, particularly isolation from their peers, could have a long-term impact on the mental health of children and adolescents.

And the findings underline that the importance of schools goes far beyond their role in teaching and learning, according to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), which carried out the study into how the pandemic has affected education around the world.

Half or more of students said they felt overwhelmed by what was happening in the world as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to surveys carried out in the 11 countries that took part in the study.

Figure ranged from 50% of students feeling overwhelmed in Slovenia to 90% in Uzbekistan and Burkina Faso.

The percentage of students saying they felt anxious about changes in their schooling ranged from 30% in Denmark to 85% in Burkina Faso, according to the survey of more than 21,000 students, 15,000 teachers and 1,500 school principals.

The heightened anxiety among students has prompted a renewed focus on student well-being in all of the participating countries, taken from Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

More than 80% of school leaders said they would increase the priority of promoting student well-being in seven of the 11 countries taking part, with 95% making this commitment in Uzbekistan and 90% in the United Arab Emirates.

And even in the other four, the figure was well over half, with 58% in Ethiopia, 59% in the Russian Federation, 68% in India and 71% in Denmark.

There was a similar emphasis on promoting well-being among school staff, with the proportion of school leaders saying this would become a greater priority ranging from 54% in Ethiopia to 94% in Uzbekistan.

The arrival of the more transmissible Omicron variant has made it more urgent than ever to support the well-being of students and teachers, according to Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general for education at UNESCO.

“Successful educational recovery and transformation will require investing more and better in what is required to build more inclusive, resilient and enabling education systems to ensure that every child does not only learn, but also feels safe, happy and supported to reach their full potential,” she added.

While the IEA’s Responses to Educational Disruption (REDS) survey did not directly measure student achievement, more than half of teachers in all the countries taking part said students had not progressed to the extent they would normally have expected.

Students were more likely to say they had learned as much during the disruption as they did before, however.

Despite the greater transmissibility of Omicron, more countries are managing to keep schools open than in the earlier stages of the pandemic.

Schooling has been disrupted in just 25 countries, with just 12 switching to fully remote learning and 135 keeping schools open since the outbreak of the Omicron variant, according to data released today by UNESCO.

This contrasts with the same period last year, when 40 countries pivoted to fully remote teaching.

“Education continues to be deeply disrupted by the pandemic, but all countries are now keenly aware of the dramatic costs of keeping schools closed, said UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay.

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