What Trinity Researchers are doing for children and young people during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned everyone's lives upside down. However, as in all times of change, some lives are affected more than others, and in different ways. Researchers across Trinity College Dublin have been in lockdown and off campus, however they continue to be as active as ever, seeking to understand the worlds of children and young people during the crisis, sharing their expertise to support children, parents, schools and fellow researchers, as well as adapting their existing research in the face of a very different research landscape.
Trinity's researchers have been working hard to help in any way they can. Here we provide examples of how they have been harnessing their expertise to support children, young people and their families during this difficult time.
Education
- Too many students disengaged from school during the lockdown. How do we buck the trend? In an Opinion piece for the Irish Times, Dr Aibhín Bray, of the School of Education discusses how school closures hit disadvantaged students hardest - but the situation is not beyond hope. It is time to consider a new model of teaching and learning. Dr Bray spoke with Michelle O’Kelly, principal of Mercy Inchicore, a Deis secondary school, who quickly put strategies which contributed to nearly 80 percent of Mercy students participating and engaging with the online learning provided. Her guiding principle was “connection before content”
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Covid19 school closures — TCD’s parent survey
A new survey of primary-school parents has provided a unique insight into parents’ experience and concerns about home learning as a result of Covid-19. While, just over half of the parents are confident that their children continued to learn enough during school closures, more than a quarter feel their child did not continue to learn enough.
The Covid-19 Parent Survey, carried out by Trinity College Dublin, is the second in a series of three reports on the impact of Covid school closures on education in Ireland - Teaching and Learning During School Closures: Lessons Learned. A survey carried out by the School of Education and Trinity Access Programme with over 700 secondary school teachers during school closures during COVID-19 reveals insights into the challenges and strategies employed by schools and teachers, the level of engagement by students - as well as the scale of the digital divide across schools.
- Education for Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Ireland A new resource, entitled InterAcT, Accomplish & Thrive, has been developed in collaboration between the ADAPT Centre and academics from Trinity’s School of Psychology, Dr Olive Healy and Dr Rhona Dempsey. It aims at providing guidance and support to children and their families during the COVID-19 crisis while schools are closed, and while many parents and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities are experiencing increased physical, psychological, and emotional strain.
- Numeracy in the Now: Supports for Families at home. Six short videos on how families can support young children with their numeracy during the school shutdown. See the TCD YouTube playlist Numeracy in the Now. A collaboration between. School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Marino Institute of Education and Limerick & Clare ETB
- Literacy on the Loose: Supports for Parents. This project features short videos focusing on areas such as ‘Literacy in the Kitchen’, ‘Literacy on the Couch’ or ‘Literacy in Nature’, ‘Literacy on the mobile’ and give parents handy guides to integrating learning into their everyday lives in a stress-free way. The videos were shot by researchers from Trinity College Dublin, the Marino Institute of Education and Limerick & Clare ETB at their own homes, with many using their own children as subjects.
- Communicating effectively with parents: supports for schools Four videos by experts sharing recommendations for schools and teachers in planning their communications to parents, including Dr Joanne Banks (School of Education, TCD) on supporting parents of students with additional learning needs; Dr Francesca LaMorgia (MotherTongues) on communicating with multilingual parents; Barry McAdams (Learnovate) on key principles for managing the user experience online and Helen Ryan (NALA) on plain English and clear communication with parents.
- Home Languages and Home Learning: Supports for Multilingual Families Short videos on how families can support young children with their literacy, numeracy and creativity during the school shutdown in 4 languages (Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Romanian) as well as in English.
- TECH2STUDENTS: Fight social and educational exclusion by powering on students The rapid move by schools from face-to-face to online teaching left many students on the wrong side of the digital divide with large numbers of students lacking suitable devices to engage with schooling. The digital divide continues to loom large in the year ahead. TECH2STUDENTS is working closely with schools so that devices get to the students who most need them. 100% of funding donated to the campaign is being used to buy refurbished devices.
Child Protection
Wellbeing and Mental Health
- Children’s Artwork Project - children’s experiences of life during the coronavirus pandemic TRiCC co-Director, Prof. Imelda Coyne, along with other members of the International Network of Child and Family Centered Care are currently doing an unfunded artwork project aimed at learning about children’s experiences of life during the coronavirus pandemic. The project will culminate in an electronic book showcasing over 60 pieces of art from countries all over the world. The artwork will neither be evaluated nor assessed as this is not a research study, however the team do plan to write a paper about the process of doing the project. Find out more by contacting Prof. Coyne
- Adolescence Disrupted: Covid-19 and Protecting Teenagers. School of Social Work and Social Policy COVID-19 Series, Article #9 by Dr Susan Flynn There has been little sense in the media vilification of teenagers who have been slammed as being reckless carriers of the illness with no regard for others. Indications are that teenagers have borne a substantial burden of Covid‐19 as major disruptions to their education come at a time when the trajectory of their lives is often dictated by State exam results. No triviality can be assigned either to the mental health problems of younger generations which research suggests may be exasperated by pandemic conditions...
- An OPEN MIND wellbeing challenge Over the past year, the education team at Science Gallery Dublin has been working with students, teachers, researchers and others to create ways to support positive mental health and wellbeing management in young people. The team has adapted their OPEN MIND programme into an online wellbeing resource which offering tips and prompts to keep your wellbeing in check while juggling your daily routine at home.
- Open Science Hub BLAST Challenge: Week 1 Week one of three of a new Science Gallery project to think about what positives have come about because of the current situation - and what things you want to hold onto after the pandemic is over. The challenges: HOLD ONTO THE GOOD THINGS and IMAGINE THE BEST THINGS. Download your DIGITAL BADGES for each of the BLAST challenges you complete.
- Open Science Hub BLAST Challenge: Week 2 Week two involves gathering information from your own self reflection and from others, learning how to innovate and problem-solve using personally relevant examples, and sketching one innovation to take to a larger community space. Don’t forget to download your DIGITAL BADGE when you are done.
- Open Science Hub BLAST Challenge: Week 3 This final weeks will find you reflecting on attitudes, access, atmosphere and aspirations to create a manifesto for a happy community and creating a zine that tells your story of this project from start to finish. Your DIGITAL BADGE is waiting for when you are done.
- The Effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents Researchers in the School of Medicine are tracking effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the mental health of children and adolescents in Ireland. Dr Ian Kelleher, TCD Psychiatry and Lucena Clinic, is analysing data from both secondary and tertiary mental health services to help understand the effects of the crisis on young people’s mental health, including changes in self-harm or suicidal behaviour.
Health and Healthcare
- Vitamin D, Covid-19 and Children TRiCC Director, Professor Eleanor Molloy, discusses that while ensuring baseline vitamin D sufficiency is appropriate, acute large doses of vitamin D are not proven
- The Doctor’s Dilemma: Lessons From GB Shaw in a Modern Pandemic COVID-19 In the current COVID 19 pandemic, the only treatments are supportive as no definitive pharmacological intervention is available. The heterogeneity of the immune response in different patient groups is clear with less severe illness in children. In this article, TRiCC Director, Professor Eleanor Molloy, discusses the nature of individualised immunotherapy, introduced by Sir Almroth Wright 100 years ago and immortalised in George Bernard Shaw’s play The Doctor’s Dilemma.
- COVID-19: how it is affecting children and what nurses can do to help In a Opinion piece for the journal, Nursing Children and Young People, TRiCC co-Director and Professor of Nursing and Midwifery, Imelda Coyne, discusses some of the worries children may have during the COVID-19 crisis, focusing particularly on those with long-term conditions, and their fears around possible disruptions to their healthcare or risks attending hospital
- COVID-19 in children and altered inflammatory responses In this article published by the journal Pediatric Research, TRiCC Director, Professor Eleanor Molloy, together with Cynthia Bearer, discuss how the coronavirus disease appears to be less severe in children. They suggest that the possible reason for this disparity in severity between adults and children may relate to differences in receptors in the renin–angiotensin system (RAS) and altered inflammatory responses to pathogens.
- Resources for Maternity Care during COVID-19 Researchers from the School of Nursing and Midwifery have contributed to a website of resources and guidelines for midwives, doctors, healthcare professionals and researchers on maternity care during COVID-19
- Pregnancy in a Time of Crisis. School of Social Work and Social Policy COVID-19 Series, Article #7, by Dr Catherine Conlon In the context of our society where we set a high bar for the optimum conditions for raising a child, insecurity, anxiety and uncertain supports make contemplating parenthood much more challenging. All combined, the COVID-19 crisis has heightened the risk of a pregnancy being a crisis and glib comments about a possible COVID babyboom are highly insensitive to this