Ofsted report of “worrying” delay in child development caused by the COVID pandemic

As reported by the BBC News, an Ofsted report has warned the development of young children has been “particularly worrying” since the COVID pandemic

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of Ofsted, reported there to still be “lingering challenges” and flagged particular concerns with the “limited vocabularies” of babies.

The report was based on inspections of 70 early years providers across England at the start of 2022.

Spielman said: “We are seeing difficulties with social interaction and social confidence – children just behind where you would normally expect them to be.

“And also in physical development – crawling, walking and perhaps related to that also greater obesity.”

The inspectors also suggested that face masks had hindered young children’s communication skills.

“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 report highlighted.

Headteacher at Kings’ Forest Primary School in Bristol, Helen Porter, said: “The children in our nursery didn’t know what I looked like without a facemask for a long time and the impact that had on being able to read facial expressions and build those relationships.”

The Ofsted report did find “lots of really good work” and effective catch-up programmes in early years at schools.

The government has insisted it will continue to invest in education.

A spokesman for the Department for Education (DfE) commented that the government has invested nearly £5bn in tutoring, additional funding and training for schools.