It’s now 5 years since the COVID-19 pandemic started and it seems so long ago. Yet still in day-to-day life, it’s constantly referred back to.
I was in year 10 in 2020, still deciding my future. 5 years later I’m at university studying education. Everyday we discuss the impact COVID has had on our education system. It had a massive impact on my educational journey. For starters I couldn’t go to open days for college meaning I had to make educated guesses about what each college would be like. I made the wrong choices because I didn’t actually have the chance to talk to staff or see the college before I attended. I came out of college with 3 A Levels, but I got all D grades. Yet at university I’m getting 2:1s on all of my assignments!
My year group always struggle with motivation and social skills because of the pandemic. Society seems to focus on young children not having social skills due to the pandemic, but I think everyone who experienced the pandemic may struggle to socialise now.
The drop in school attendance isn’t a surprise. Attendance in my classes is extremely low and our mental health is just as low. Many consider dropping out because they feel it’s too much. Socialising day after day feels very hard. I would rather socialise for a little while and then spend at least a day to myself.
COVID-19 also changed a lot of things with how university learning is delivered. There’s a lot more online which can be helpful, but it does mean you have to have a device to engage in the degree. If you don’t, I’m not even sure you could have a chance at gaining a degree. The lectures often point to the online services rather than giving in-person support. Nothing can beat in-person support. My class has many mature students who don’t even have all the skills to use the technology effectively which means even more people can’t access the same education.
Working-class students are already at a disadvantage when joining university and sometimes it can feel like there’s more barriers put up all the time. I feel COVID-19 made the issue 100 times worse. Being autistic on top has made university life difficult, however a positive is that we do have chances to engage with university from home if some days we do not feel up to attend. It can be good for burnout as you can just do a lesson online. But does this encourage more social isolation at a time when we need to re-learn a lot of social skills? It’s a question that I think will be researched in the next few years. The pandemic was a huge part of our lives and for our year group it certainly changed how we experienced our young teenage years.