Teacher survey predicts students will struggle to catch up post-pandemic

A survey has shown how the pandemic has damaged the mental health of teachers and students, and come to a grim conclusion.

Students will struggle to catch up academically once the pandemic ends, as more children shun school, teachers have warned in a new survey.

Student bullying is of concern to 60 per cent of teachers, and 33 per cent worry that students remain unmotivated following lockdowns and ongoing Covid-19 chaos.

Two-thirds of teachers feel their school is not equipped to deal withstudents’ mental wellbeing, as Omicron outbreaks fuel anxiety for teachers and children heading back to class.

Skodel, an edutech company whose online surveys to monitor student mood and concerns are used by schools including The Scots College in Sydney and Hume Anglican Grammar in Victoria, surveyed 1182 teachers as they returned to classroom teaching this year.

If found 83 per cent of teachers believe students would struggle with the ongoing impact of Covid-19, while 60 per cent felt bullying and discrimination was one of the biggest problems facing students. Three-quarters of teachers felt that “catching up on academic work’’ would be a big issue for students this year.

Nearly 40 per cent of teachers were concerned that students were not getting enough sleep.

Adolescent and child psychologist Andrew Fuller, who works with Skodel and is a fellow of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, said he was noticing more teenagers dropping out of school, or younger children refusing to return to classrooms.

“School refusal is a major issue,’’ he said.

“Many of the more introverted kids have attendance problems because they are overwhelmed by having a lot of people around after they’ve been ­cocooned at home.

Students at Sacred Heart College in Geelong do artwork during a “brain break”.

“Quite a number of kids, either through fear or choice, are not returning full-time to school.’’

Mr Fuller said it would be a mistake for schools to return to “business as usual’’ in teaching. He suggested schools embrace a permanent “hybrid’’ model of learning, offering online lessons a day or two a week, or to students who struggle to attend school.

“You could have online lessons from a fantastic maths teacher or a great biology teacher and make them accessible to all students.’’

Mr Fuller said teachers had also been plagued by mental health issues during the pandemic, with many fearful of catching Covid-19 in classrooms.

“One school had someone come in to help teachers write their wills,’’ he said. “Some teachers feel their lives are less important than other people’s because they are asked to put their lives at risk so other people can do their jobs. Teachers have been heroic – to reinvent their entire delivery style within months was a remarkable achievement.’’

At Sacred Heart College in Geelong, deputy principal Catherine Gulli uses a “wellbeing framework’’ to build students’ emotional regulation, coping strategies and healthy habits.

Students take regular five-minute “brain breaks’’ during lessons to focus on deep breathing, stretches or star jumps.

Ms Gulli has noticed many students seem more anxious and “unsettled’’ following last year’s extended lockdowns. “Covid has caused the majority of students to go into fight-or-flight mode more quickly,’’ she said. “There’s been a huge demand on our social workers and our mental health system. I expect the trauma from the pandemic will last years.’’

Ms Gulli said despite the challenges, students were “incredibly resilient … There’s fresh hope that things will get better now.’’

The Productivity Commission’s mental health inquiry in 2020 recommended schools monitor student wellbeing as well as academic performance.