The Norwegian Education Mirror 2022

Consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic on kindergartens

Both the municipalities and kindergarten directors express great satisfaction with the efforts of kindergartens during the pandemic. At the same time, they are concerned that staff at kindergartens have had heavy workloads at work. Many staff members are scared of getting infected at work, and many experienced restrictions in their private lives to avoid bringing infection to the kindergarten or from the kindergarten to their families and friends. (Myrvold et al. 2022a).

The Coronavirus pandemic also brought with it a range of restrictions for children in kindergartens. Some children benefitted from the Coronavirus measures in kindergarten. Some children enjoyed being in smaller groups, and it was good to interact with fewer staff members. Many also enjoyed using outdoor areas more often. Problematic aspects of the measures include the children being limited to a small play environment, not being able to choose playmates themselves, and that not all the groups had a kindergarten teacher (Myrvold et al. 2022a).

Increased attention to vulnerable children during the pandemic

Nearly all directors say that their kindergarten paid increased attention to vulnerable children and families during the pandemic, and the vast majority are confident that they were able to look after them. When it comes to the care of vulnerable children, the overall results indicate variation between kindergartens. Some have managed to look after vulnerable children and families in a better way, including through extra attention to these children and good cooperation with child welfare services and educational and psychological counselling services (Myrvold 2022a).

Changes to special education support provision during the Coronavirus pandemic

In many cases, special education provision was reduced during the pandemic, according to a survey (Myrvold et al. 2022b), especially in large municipalities and in municipalities with a lot of infection. In the largest kindergartens, directors talk about reductions more often than the directors in other kindergartens. Survey findings indicate that it was most difficult to maintain the special education provision at the start of the pandemic. Some directors say that they managed to implement much of the special education programme, but that they had to organise it differently, and that the content was slightly different for some children.

Lessons to take from the pandemic period into ordinary kindergarten operation

In spring 2022, at the end of the pandemic, kindergarten staff members said that there is must to learn from the challenges faced by kindergartens during the pandemic, now that kindergartens are back in ordinary operation again. Many mentioned that they want to continue working with children in small groups. Many think that shorter opening hours and being fully-staffed while open worked well, and some would like an opportunity to agree the time of stay with parents to be able to plan staffing better. Some kindergartens experienced spending more time with the children because meal time, planning time and meeting time routines were changed. Staff also want to continue to use the digital skills that they acquired during the pandemic, and there is agreement that participation in some meetings and courses can be made more efficient when they are held digitally. Not least, kindergartens learned new routines for hygiene and cleaning, which many say they want to maintain (Myrvold et al. 2022a).

Challenging staff absence and a lack of staff substitutes in the winter of 2021–2022

A sample survey among directors and educational leaders suggests that kindergarten staff absence was high during the winter of 2021-2022 as a result of the Omicron Coronavirus variant (Myrvold et al. 2022a). Staff absences were due to both illness and quarantining. Most kindergartens in the survey state that they had ongoing problems in getting a sufficient number of substitutes during this period, and pedagogical leaders felt that the shortage of substitutes weakened the quality of the education they offer.

Parents are very satisfied with kindergarten provision

Despite two years of challenges due to the Coronavirus pandemic, parents are very satisfied with the provision of their children's kindergartens, as in previous years. A parent survey in autumn 2021 shows that 61 per cent are very satisfied and 32 per cent are quite satisfied with the provision. In total, only 2 per cent of parents are quite or very dissatisfied with their kindergarten (The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training 2022b).

Nearly 97 per cent of parents say that they child enjoys their kindergarten and feels safe with the staff there, and 95 per cent say that staff are involved with their children and are attentive to the needs of their children.