While adults in Ireland continue to enjoy the return to near normality – afforded by the easing of most restrictions last month – the situation for children remains largely unchanged in schools. Getting together with a stranger at a nightclub may be socially acceptable again, but two children from a different pod or class playing in the yard at break time remains a firm no-no.
But it’s not just pods and masks that children are contending with as parents, teachers and students report that different rules apply in different schools when it comes preventative measures. No access to lockers, showers or changing rooms; having to stay in sweaty PE clothes all day; quarantined books; staggered start and finish times; the inability to return to school after an appointment; parents not permitted to drop in children’s forgotten lunches; children required to wear masks outdoors; staff not allowed to take breaks together; parents refused entry to school buildings; no after-school activities; no singing; students having to eat lunch outdoors; windows and doors continuously open; and only being allowed to have lunch with one other student are just some of the ongoing restrictions described.
“Every bit of fun is a no,” one teacher reported as focus turns to this week’s Nphet meeting during which public health officials are set to review restrictions in schools.
"Fairness and parity" are one reason restrictions need to end for children, according to child and adolescent psychotherapist Dr Colman Noctor. "Everyone else is living without restrictions, why are children last on the list?" asks the father of three. "Children's relationship with school is desperately negatively affected by the pods and the anti-fun, anti-joy situation where children are going to have a longer-term relationship with education. Education is lifelong – they need to get that back to normal as quickly as possible. The current circumstances means children are not wanting to go to school and they're not enjoying it and the fun elements are going out of it. That's not a slight at teachers, they're doing their best to make it as much craic as possible, but the restrictions are a problem."
Educational engagement
Dr Noctor says a lot of kids who were on the cusp of educational engagement have been lost. “Over the last two years they’ve dropped off and the longer restrictions stay in place, the more at risk we are to lose more of them, ” he adds.
He says the idea that your kids are grand with the restrictions is not necessarily accurate. “The realisation is that children are adjusting to them – that doesn’t mean they’re grand with them. We don’t realise the impact of the last two years until we start to reopen again. Leaving restrictions on masks and pods and everything – the problem may not be evident when they’re in place – they may only be evident when you take them off.”
When it comes to masks, Dr Katie Redmond Cremin, assistant professor of occupational therapy, Trinity College Dublin, and a mother-of-three, says she understands they "work as a cheap, effective, implementable, population level tool against the spread of Covid – hence our kids have been diligently wearing them in secondary school for nearly two years. But as discos go ahead, indoor sports, house parties and sleepovers are back in full swing, schools remain the last bastion of social distancing. It is time to reflect on the benefits and burdens of masks to our school-age children."
I bloody hated trying to teach seven-year-olds in a mask
Dr Redmond Cremin says that for one of her children,who sometimes lets her mask slip, like many other teenagers, “the burden has been threats of detention, being asked if she wants to kill her granny. For her, it is an object of compliance to the Covid rules of school . . . one more thing to get in trouble over and it takes away from her engagement in school.
Inconclusive
“The argument for masks includes that some children feel safer with them, that some children are medically vulnerable and, while the virus is still circulating, require every layer of protection possible. But it is inconclusive if the types of mask, and the type of mask-wearing in school, is really having any effect on the level of spread, especially as the rest of society is open. Individual choice may be a better route at this point.”
Professionally, Dr Redmond Cremin is concerned that “the burden of prolonged mask-wearing” may have other damaging effects that we are yet to understand, and believes the burden “now far outweighs the benefit”.
“With my child development and occupational therapy hat on, I am interested in reading more and more research questioning if they impact younger children in terms of language and social development. The research jury is out on this, but the anecdotal evidence is stacking up. I’d be pretty certain that prolonged interactions without being able to read facial expressions would change the trajectory of a young child’s social development.”
When it comes to the other restrictions in place, Dr Redmond Cremin says that not being allowed to mix with other classes “is cruel”, while “no whole year assemblies, one-way systems, outdoor lunches and spraying down desks etc are all beginning to look over the top in comparison to the rest of society”.
‘Pseudo measures’
A teacher, Amy, would like to see an end to restrictions in schools. She says the “actual measures that might have helped curb the spread in schools” such as proper contact tracing/recording of cases in schools are gone, “so the pseudo measures can go too, in my opinion”.
“I bloody hated trying to teach seven-year-olds in a mask. It spent half the day under my chin if I was up at the whiteboard, because small children need to see your mouth when you talk, I don’t care.”
Another teacher, Linn, says she misses teaching “as it used to be. I think children have been amazing throughout all this and they’ve kept us going. On a practical level, children need to see your face to teach sounds and for language to develop, etc. For children with additional needs, it has been really difficult.
My first class child has never done a whole year of school, has no idea what his teacher looks like, can't hear half the stuff she's saying because it's so muffled with masks
“I will be glad to see the back of terms like pods. The pod was the classroom. It will be nice to close our windows again, sometimes it was very cold. Perhaps the fairest way to navigate the next few weeks would be to make mask wearing optional for teachers and children.”
Speaking on radio yesterday, Áine Lynch, CEO of the National Parents Council, said the majority of parents they have talked to believe primary school children should not have to wear facemasks. “We do hear from parents on both sides of the discussion, and parents who feel very reassured that their children are wearing masks,” said Lynch. “Of parents that are contacting us, it's the majority view.
“Generally they're concerned about their children's social, emotional development. The children don't want to wear them everyday, sometimes it can be a struggle getting them to put them on. And on the other side of it they're saying their children aren't wearing them properly. They often pull them down to talk to each other, they pull them down to show expressions if they're laughing.”
Mother-of-two Heidi Wilson fears the ongoing restrictions in schools are creating a "very cold environment for children".
“My first class child has never done a whole year of school, has no idea what his teacher looks like, can’t hear half the stuff she’s saying because it’s so muffled with masks.”
Heidi also feels pods are making it difficult for children to make friends. “Their pods get changed every 6 to 8 weeks, then they’re not allowed to go to the other pod to be with the friends they’ve made.”
Mother-of-two Moira says along with concerns around speech development she feels “children need to see their teacher’s face to make sense of a situation and learn what the appropriate reaction is”.
For mum-of-three Sinéad, ongoing restrictions have been a source of stress for her children. “My daughter isn’t having a good time dealing with the masks. Every Sunday night the tears and tummy pains start.”
Shy girl
Sinéad says her daughter is a shy girl, with a gentle voice. “These masks have interrupted her ability to communicate, to read the faces of her friends in learning situations and to express herself clearly. This girl used to love school and this rule is creating mental pain and, I’ll be honest, I have no idea what sort of lasting effect this will have”. Sinead’s older son “pushed himself hard to accept he had to wear a mask”.
Sinéad believes that if children are vaccinated, they should no longer wear masks. “My request would be that those who wish to wear them should do so, those that don’t should no longer be forced to. I’d like normal life for the kids.” she continues. “I’d love if the windows could be closed, and if those Hepa filters worked we could use them instead. Pods and bubbles would be another one I’d put in room 101.”
