«Parents should fight for a class repetition if they see large gaps»

Mrs Huggenberger, you work as a psychotherapist in a group practice in Baden. In recent months, you have been inundated with enquiries like never before. Why is that?

We psychotherapists are clearly feeling the effects of the pandemic. For almost all children and adolescents, measures such as homeschooling or distance learning, the contact restrictions, the associated isolation and the many other restrictions on leisure activities have led to a high level of suffering. What is also new is that the legal guardians of my adolescent patients are also contacting me and asking for help. I realise that many family systems are dysfunctional due to the experiences of the last year and a half.

What does that mean?

From a psychotherapeutic perspective, families are a system. If one member of this system is not doing well, it affects all the other members of the system. Overburdened and frustrated children or adolescents met parents who were themselves at their wits' end because they had to - and in some cases still have to - somehow reconcile working from home, care work and home schooling. The consequences are now becoming clear. Many mums and dads are at breaking point, suffering from burnout, depression and anxiety disorders.

How exactly are children affected by the pandemic?

For example, children are afraid that they won't be able to keep up at school or won't be able to catch up in the next class after the summer holidays. They now realise that they didn't learn enough during the long phase of homeschooling in spring 2020 or were unable to consolidate what little they did learn.

Why is that?

Every school, every teacher and every level handled distance learning very differently during the first lockdown. Some children only studied for two to three hours a day. This means that pupils had to put in a lot of extra effort to catch up on the school material they had missed. Not all of them did this. This triggers a feeling of inadequacy or even fear of failure. Young people who already had a hard time at school are now even more afraid of the future.

Can you explain that?

Put yourself in the shoes of a young adult who has just started studying at a higher education institution and has only met fellow students and lecturers virtually for a year and a half. That is serious. You first have to learn normality again. Other young people wanted to find an apprenticeship, which wasn't possible due to the pandemic - you can't try things out virtually. So many probably choose the 10th school year. However, this doesn't solve the problem, it just postpones it.

How do you experience this in your practice?

Pupils who were already rather short and/or tired of school before the pandemic are even more so now. I often hear the phrase: «Corona is stupid.» Almost all children have a big gap year. Every new quarantine, every additional cancellation of lessons makes this situation worse.

What about the parents?

Many mothers and fathers have economic worries, fear of losing their job or are already unemployed. Others are burnt out. Many are worried about the future of their children, especially if they are a little older. All of this together is a huge burden.

To what extent does distance learning place a burden on parents?

For mothers in particular, homeschooling and distance learning have given rise to feelings of despair. Many have struggled to provide their child with the support they need in the first wave. Primary school children have often alternated between face-to-face teaching and homeschooling. Every quarantine makes the situation worse. It is always the parents, and very often the mothers, who have to absorb such situations.

You specialise in children, adolescents and adults with attention deficit disorder, AD(H)S. What impact do distance learning and homeschooling have on these children?

Children with ADHD are overwhelmed with distance learning well into upper school, secondary school and even university. They really need a lot of support, as people with ADHD lack self-control and the ability to structure themselves. They have no sense of time and, above all, no appropriately functioning stimulus filter.

What does that mean?

ADHD children have difficulty concentrating on a virtual platform, are constantly distracted and quickly lose sight of the actual task at hand. They often daydream and put off unloved tasks. As almost everyone has an area in which they are particularly good, they focus on these activities, immerse themselves in them and forget what else they need to do. They are also often tired due to the flood of information and the lack of stimulus filtering.

How can we help these children?

Children who do not have face-to-face lessons absolutely need help from a parent who structures their homework with them and constantly checks their progress. Depending on their level, they may need someone to supervise them from A to Z, i.e. to sit next to them one-to-one and learn, write and do maths with them. But solving the homework is not the end of the story; in distance learning, you have to submit the solution to the teacher, wait for their answer, possibly correct it, rewrite it and submit it again. This is a challenge for all children, but even more so for children with ADHD.

Now the summer holidays are starting in the next few weeks. Should parents try to catch up on the material they have missed with their children during this time?

Holidays are meant for regeneration. However, the Covid-19 situation has left many children and young people - whether affected by ADHD or not - with gaps in their schoolwork. If parents explain to their children that they need to catch up so that the next school year will be easier for them, most children will help them catch up. I advise parents to give their children a holiday first and, if necessary, to work with them in small units in the mornings from the second or third week onwards. If they need to catch up on English or French vocabulary, they should not study for more than one hour a day. If the children have time off afterwards, this is reasonable. Catching up must be done without pressure and a parent should offer to help.

What do parents need in the summer months?

Also recovery first. They also lost more energy due to the aforementioned difficulties in everyday school life, in coping with their own job in the home office and the challenges of dealing with Covid-19. Parents and children should enjoy the long-awaited easing of restrictions without becoming negligent with regard to compulsory masks and hygiene measures.

How do you deal with a child who has to repeat a class because of gaps in their knowledge?

Repeating a grade is not easy. For some years now, the principle has applied in the lower school that children can usually go on to the next class despite unsatisfactory grades. I think this is a fatal development. If a child can no longer keep up with the school curriculum, motivation drops and the negative spiral begins. Negative effects become apparent when they move on to the upper school. They are not placed in the level that corresponds to their potential.

What advice would you give mothers and fathers of affected children and adolescents?

Parents should fight for repetition if they see large gaps in their children's knowledge. I can only appeal to teachers, head teachers and school boards to allow repetition in such cases. If it is explained to the children why repetition makes sense, there is usually resistance on their part at first. However, they are secretly aware that repeating a class can bring relief. It seems important to me that parents discuss this calmly with their children.

And after the summer holidays? How can parents and teachers make it easier for children to start the new school year?

Through serenity and optimism. And: children and young people experience relief when they are informed. The worst thing is the uncertainty. They have experienced that they were able to start last year without any worries and that the situation worsened in the autumn. If parents and teachers notice the children's uncertainty, they should address the change in the situation compared to last year: The situation is different now due to the vaccinations. The aim is not to whitewash the situation, but to convey that it has improved. The slogan «Together we can do it» should take centre stage. You can also explain to children and young people that humanity has already overcome several crises or pandemics of this kind.

Will teachers take the situation into account and even adapt the curriculum?

It would be desirable for teachers to achieve the most important goals and leave out the optional. So far, I have missed this attitude, especially in the lower school. We should not assume that the school situation has stabilised because we did not have any official school closures in autumn and winter 2020/2021. Quarantine, illness, frequent changes of teachers, difficult conditions at home and the consequences of the school closures in spring 2020 are taking their toll. I hope that teachers will take more personal responsibility. Sometimes less is more.

While many adults will be vaccinated at the start of the next school year, this is far from being the case for children and young people. How can schools and parents address this situation?

We can protect children by immunising as many adults as possible. This should reduce the risk of infection in schools. Standardised regulations should also be introduced in an infection situation. This provides security. Another advantage is the saliva self-test. If a young person is suspected of being ill, a test can be carried out. If testing at home on a voluntary basis is considered natural, children can also be protected. But again, don't panic. Because colds and flu happen every year. A test should not become a habit at the slightest sign of an infection, otherwise there is an increased risk of fuelling fear of Covid-19 and, in the worst case, making it chronic.