Research School Network: Supporting self-regulation Julian Grenier, director at East London Research School, on the impact of Covid-19 on young pupils’ self-regulation skills.

Babies and young children are wired and primed to be great learners. They are​‘the best learning machines in the universe’, as Alison Gopnik, one of the world’s leading experts on child development, memorably claimed.

But having potential is not enough. Children also need favourable conditions for successful early learning. It’s easy to see how children might lack stimulation and miss out on learning in their early years. They might not have space for play, or much to play with. They might not experience much back-and-forth conversation or sharing of books. But in the background behind​‘what’ children are learning – or missing out on – there is something else that’s important. It’s how they are developing to become more powerful learners. That depends crucially on their emerging ability to self-regulate. Successful early learning depends on both the​‘how’ and the​‘what’.

Read on in the Research Schools Network