Nursery World - No evidence that children's social and emotional development worsened during the pandemic

Children’s social and emotional development does not appear to have changed much during the pandemic, according to a long-term study looking at the impact of children’s early education and development on children’s primary years.

The study found 'no compelling evidence that differences between the socio-emotional development of children from the most and least disadvantaged groups widened' during the pandemic

The research is part of the longitudinal study of early education and development (SEED), examining findings from Wave 5 of the study when children were between eight and ten years old.

This report found that the experiences of children and their families continued to be associated with children’s socio-emotional development between the ages of four and eight- to 10 years old.

Findings show that differences between the socio-emotional development of children from the most and least disadvantaged groups already evident at the age of four appear to have largely persisted to the age of eight, but don’t appear to have widened during that period, in spite of the pandemic.

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