Covid Disruption: Experts In UK Call For Compassion Training For Pupils In Catch-Up Plans

Experts in the United Kjngdom have called for pupils to receive compassion training under plans aimed at making up for education lost due to the Covid fiasco.

A leading group of academics and psychologists will write to the education recovery commissioner urging him to make sure young people and their teachers are “provided with the mental tools to overcome stress and trauma.

The letter, seen UK media, urged Sir Kevan Collins to include “compassion-based training and coaching” for students and staff in both primary and secondary schools in his catch-up plans. 

The group which includes education experts and clinical psychologists, said pupils have experienced “enormous stress, pressure, and disruption” due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which kept most children at home during two national lockdowns and changed the way examination results are graded.

They cited data showing a greater proportion of five to 16-year-olds were identified with mental health problems last July compared to in 2017, as well as a poll suggesting 52 per cent of teachers felt their mental health declined due to Covid.

The letter – signed by around 40 experts – said there were “innumerable mental challenges to be navigated” over bringing pupils and teachers back to a school environment and to make sure their education “will not suffer because of Covid”.

The education recovery commissioner is currently looking at ways to help children “catch-up” after the disruption of the past year.