It seems difficult to imagine, but it is now five years (18 March 2020) since COVID restrictions were imposed in Australia which included a ban on “non-essential indoor gatherings of 100 people or more”, and shortly afterwards a lot of VET teaching and assessment moved online.
It was a time of fear and uncertainty unprecedented in our lifetimes.
It was also a time of great community spirit and support.
Who could have foreseen then that it would take another two years until our lives would start to return to normal?
The Chronicle has an excellent (albeit slightly US-focussed) summary of the changes made to our post-school education systems as a result of the pandemic, and the enduring impact of these changes. The article includes the following observation about the pandemic’s impact on students:
“The kids aren’t alright: Schooling setbacks mean colleges face years of cohorts that aren’t as academically prepared as prior classes. Many worry that more students aren’t reading, are embracing cheating, and are checking our even when they’re physically present. Mental-health concerns spiked, and colleges poured resources into services to try to help.”
It then goes on to note that “measures of college employees’ mental health show high levels of burnout.”
A search of the VOCEDplus database shows many reports on the impact of COVID in Australia were written during the pandemic itself, as researchers looked to understand the impact on teaching and learning.
A more recent article from Monash University’s Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice (CYPEP) “draws on data collected for the annual Australian Youth Barometer published in 2021, 2022 and 2023… (and has ) extracted the data from NSW and Victoria to illustrate the perspectives of young people in the years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The researchers’ findings included that:
- “In 2023, almost 84% of young people in both NSW and Victoria still thought their mental health was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic”.
- Almost 70% of young people felt their family relationships were impacted by the pandemic.
- “High proportions of young people reported that the pandemic impacted their education or learning experience. Although this proportion decreased (between 2021 and 2023), close to 80% in both states still thought their education was affected in 2023.”
- “A decreasing proportion (37.4%) of young people in NSW reported feeling a sense of belonging at their school or educational institution in 2023, compared with an increasing proportion in Victoria (41.7% in 2023).”
The researchers make clear that their analysis of the annual youth barometer data cannot precisely “pinpoint the direct impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
But given these state-level differences in how connected students feel to their education institutions and the relatively low levels of belonging in each state, are there opportunities for the VET sector and its practitioners to identify and share good practice and in turn to help more young people feel engaged in their learning?
This in turn would reduce the load on the many VET practitioners who are VDC News readers, who went through such a lot yourselves during the pandemic as you juggled your own family needs and circumstances, with those of their students.
And if you’re looking for a way to get a better balance in your personal and professional life, then you might be interested in our upcoming online VET Chat on this topic on Wednesday 2 April.
