Maisie might only be nine, but she decorates a cake like a pro. In between her baking projects, Maisie maintains her bush food garden and monitors her frog hotel for new residents.  Maisie likes to read, and her favourite characters are Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.  She’s even sewing her own Australian themed Book Week costume this year. She’ll be all dressed up as Little Ragged Blossom, the beloved character from classic Australian children’s literature.  She didn’t attend Prep and missed much of Year One.  Maisie is one of 700,000 young Australian students who entered the education system during the pandemic.  Maisie’s parents used the lockdown period to actively encourage her artistic, culinary, and literary interests.  But not all kids thrived under the “remote learning” system.  

The Post-Pandemic Child

For Maisie and her peers, the 35 weeks of school disruption over the 2020 – 2021 period (not to mention subsequent disruptions resulting from floods and individual school outbreaks) meant making those “early adjustments to school” twice.  It meant shifting rules and unlearning and relearning how school works.  For Maisie, the return to traditional classroom learning felt like a step backwards. Her reading levels, fine motor skills and interests had deviated from the peer norms.  Some of her classmates, less suited to the remote learning model, had fallen well behind.  Others had developed “teen-like” habits at the tender age of 6.  Maisie’s peer group was fractured.  Deeply.

“By the time schools reopened in 2022, many children were reluctant to return, and rates of school refusal, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and ADHD in young children were of great concern. Many even had to regain basic social skills,” says Kim Cornish, Professor of Psychology at Monash University.

The Mental Health Legacy

Maisie was eager to experience classroom life and excited for her first days at traditional school.  In the weeks that followed, the usually happy and inquisitive child became withdrawn, and obsessive, her behaviour grew erratic, and she exhibited increasing anxiety about going to school.  Her parents sought the help of a child psychologist to assist with the transition, but the waiting lists were long. It took over a year for Maisie to get an appointment.

Maisie’s reaction to post-lockdown stress isn’t unusual.  In fact, Maisie was among the luckier children.  Her parents had the financial means to provide her with learning aids and the time to work with her through the lockdown period. Some of her peers experienced additional hardships during lockdowns, including neglect, abuse, and the fallout of their parents’ financial and mental health struggles.  Children with neurodiverse and additional developmental needs struggled.  Children with mental health challenges struggled.  Other kids were just lonely and missed out on key social interactions.  We’re left with a legacy of kids who spent their key formative years in complete physical isolation and removed from the schooling safety net.

The Scramble Continues

While many of our young learners are now back on track in the classroom, the fallout continues for others.  Parents still report significant wait times for child psychologists and pediatricians.  Recent studies have shown girls have experienced more long-term impacts than boys, reporting an increase in stress levels when impacted by events outside of their control and loss of connection as the triggering factor.  The “tummy ache” approach to staying home from school took its own evolutionary leap into outright school refusal.  

Meanwhile, the rate of children leaving the traditional schooling framework has skyrocketed.  As the lockdowns ended, homeschooling was up 195% in Queensland compared to pre-lockdown enrolment. However, in the years since, homeschooling enrolments have continued to rise, not drop sharply as formerly predicted. 45% of homeschooling families reported that they’d never intended to homeschool, but felt they were out of choices.

Maisie Is Among The Lucky Ones

Maisie proudly displays her recent project, May Gibbs themed cupcakes, complete with fondant gumnuts and chocolate gum leaves.  She now manages her anxiety without medication or ongoing therapy.  She’s learned to recognise her symptoms and to use her passion for creative endeavours to ease anxiety and stave off depression symptoms.  Without more assistance from the child health sector, Maisie’s peers may face an uncertain future filled with mental health challenges, self-medication, and unhealthy coping mechanisms unless we resolve these issues now.