Children ‘unable to understand facial expressions’ as pandemic stunts development of social skills

An Ofsted briefing found some children have been left with a ‘limited vocabulary,’ reports Emily Atkinson

Some early years children are struggling with sharing and taking turns (Getty Images)

The number of young children who are unable to understand facial expressions has soared after the pandemic scuppered regular opportunity to develop social and emotional skills, England’s education watchdog has found.

Those worst affected were the most vulnerable children who typically lived in smaller homes without any outdoor space and spent more time on screens, according to Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman.

A series of four breifings on education recovery published by Ofsted made obvious the “lingering challenges” created by the string of national lockdowns, she said.

“I’m particularly worried about younger children’s development, which, if left unaddressed, could potentially cause problems for primary schools down the line,” Ms Spielman added.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In the physical limitations of lockdown, the smaller your household, or if you lived in a flat and if you didn’t have a garden, those children were significantly more constrained in their opportunities to exercise than children who lived in houses with big gardens.

“We know that there have been differential effects and how important it is that we particularly put the effort into the children who’ve had the worst experience over the last few years to help them get where they need to.”

In the briefing on early years, based on inspections of 70 early years providers in January and February 2022, it found some children have been left with a “limited vocabulary” while “some babies have struggled to respond to basic facial expressions”, having missed out on listening to conversations or hearing stories.

One provider said that since young children seem to have spent more time on screens, they have started to use accents and voices from programmes they have watched.

Wearing face masks is also continuing to have a negative impact on young children’s language and communication skills, a few providers said.

“Children turning two years old will have been surrounded by adults wearing masks for their whole lives and have therefore been unable to see lip movements or mouth shapes as regularly,” the briefing said.

“Some providers have reported that delays to children’s speech and language development have led to them not socialising with other children as readily as they would have expected previously,” it added.

Ms Spielman said: “Children have had less time in early education, less time interacting with others outside the family. For some children they’ve not much interaction at all if they’ve spent all their time looking at screens. Children have been talking in the funny voices of cartoons they’ve been spending enormous amounts of time watching.”

In addition, she said the pandemic had created delays in learning speech and language and problems with social interaction and confidence, such as not knowing how to take turns and struggling to make friends.

She added that delays in walking and crawling had been commonplace as a result of the lockdowns, causing a surge in child obesity.

Children were also not at the expected level in developing vital self-care skills, such as being potty trained, tying their shoelaces and taking their coats off, she added.

As a result, nurseries have been coming up with innovative ways to help young children catch up, such as sharing learning between home and nursery through a “chatter group” with a diary to record activities.

Others have encouraged children to express their feelings through “emotion cards” with images of children displaying different facial expressions.

Among secondary pupils in Year 11 and 13, meanwhile, inspectors found it was a challenge for teachers to help pupils get up to speed on content they had missed in tandem with preparing them for exams.

“In some schools, assessment practices for these year groups had been adjusted to account for this. However, inspectors pointed out that the potential for pupils being ‘more weighed than fed’ and the focus on assessment could mean learning suffers as a result,” the briefing said.

Schools and nurseries reported delays in accessing services for speech and language support or mental health. Special schools reported being particularly affected by this, as they rely on external services more than other schools.

James Bowen, director of policy for school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “It is no surprise that the pandemic has had a major impact on some children. We know that repeated lockdowns have meant that most younger children have had reduced social interaction and it is perhaps unsurprising that this has affected their emotional development, social and speech and language skills.

“We’re pleased Ofsted’s report notes that schools are effectively helping children to catch up on these lost skills.

“Schools work incredibly hard to give pupils the extra support they need but they cannot do it alone - the Government must also invest in early years services for disadvantaged families, as well as vital services like speech and language therapy, so that those children who need specialist support receive it as early as possible.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “Our ambitious recovery plan continues to roll out across the country, with nearly £5 billion invested in high quality tutoring, world class training for teachers and early years practitioners, additional funding for schools, and extending time in colleges by 40 hours a year.

“We have simplified the National Tutoring Programme to reach as many pupils as possible, with funding going directly to schools from next year. The Nuffield Early Language Intervention Programme is also being used by the majority of schools to improve language skills of reception-age children.”

Following the concerns raised in the report over children not being able to recognise facial expressions, Ms Spielman said “basic parenting” is more important than delaying children’s entry to school.

Asked if parents should delay sending their children to school, she added: “What’s more important, I think, is to make sure that these very basic things [are being done.]

“Parents and families can spend time making sure they talk a lot to their children, give them those opportunities to take turns, whether there are other children to play with, they’ve had exposure to other children and that they get out, they get out to the park, they get out for walks, they get out to go to the shops, they have exercise.

“Those really basic parenting things are probably more important than delaying their entry to school.”