Listening, as I often do, to the Today programme on Radio 4 each morning I was struck by two news stories today.  On their own, each was momentarily interesting - connected, they added flavour to the debate swirling around how we raise and educate our children and the long-term trend of increasing worries about mental health across the whole population.

Firstly, to the US, and overnight (this was written on the morning of 24 April 2024) the US Senate passed an important bill which will see significant funds flow to Ukraine and Israel for military and humanitarian purposes.  For those that follow US politics, you will know this bill has been contentious, to say the least, and its progress depended on compromise. In this case, tucked into the later pages, was an additional and wholly unrelated clause which could result in the US banning TikTok.  The social media app has been troubling law makers in Washington for some time due to security risks and the increasingly negative impact it has on young peoples’ social and emotional development.

On this side of the Atlantic, Professor Lee Elliot Major was discussing a report he co-authored which was exploring the long-term educational impacts of the covid pandemic.  As he pointed out, children across England seem to have fared worse than other similar countries and are expected to achieve lower academic outcomes as a result.  The report points the finger at the narrowing of the state curriculum and insufficient opportunities at school and in the home for emotional development.  Indeed, as Professor Major explained, a child’s social and emotional development (how they interact with others, cope with the stresses of the world around them and regulate their emotions) is as important as their core academic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic.

Both stories talk to a growing concern of child development and mental health which was neatly summarised in, The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt.  In this highly readable and influential book, Professor Haidt explains that we are both restricting vital opportunities for children to grow emotionally, whilst also giving them unfettered access to everything the internet can throw at them.  The story about US law makers and the covid generation are talking about the same issues.  As educators and parents, we need to redouble efforts to build depth and breadth into a child’s world whilst not limiting their exposure to real-world risk.  A tricky balancing act for anyone, but a vital one to get right.

David Paton, Head.