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Young children's learning and developmental outcomes : Lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic
Mahoney, Rebecca Jane
Mahoney, Rebecca Jane
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the influence of the pandemic on the learning and developmental outcomes of children born in the 36 months prior, or into the Covid-19 pandemic. Spanning more than three years (11th of March 2020 - 5th of May 2023), the Covid-19 pandemic had a global impact across all facets of contemporary society, constituting one of the foremost sociohistorical phenomenon of the 21st century. In Victoria, Australia, prolonged periods of lockdown throughout 2020 – 2021 limited young children’s opportunities to engage in typical early childhood experiences, such as playgroup and other Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services. With the earliest years of a child’s life representing a critical period for neurodevelopment, understanding the influence of disruptions on children during the early childhood years due to pandemic induced lockdowns is necessary to identify effective post-pandemic practices supporting children and their families, and in preparation for possible future pandemics.
This research is framed within Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological theory, conceptualising the pandemic as an event of social significance. From an ecological perspective, young children’s developmental trajectories are shaped by events occurring at the chronosystem level of human development. Prolonged disruptions to other levels of the system incurred via the chronosystem level, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, have cascading influence on children’s learning and developmental outcomes.
Through a pragmatic approach, this study employed an explanatory sequential design comprising two related Phases. Mixed methodologies were employed, with Phase One conducted as a systematic review of the literature and Phase Two conducted as a semi-structured interviews with nine caregivers of young children having lived experiences of pandemic induced lockdowns across Victoria, Australia.
The research suggested disruption across the ecological systems of young children during the Covid-19 pandemic to influence their learning and developmental outcomes, predominantly in the domains of socioemotional development and psychological wellbeing. Notably, differences were identified between Phase One findings, which emphasised influence of disruption at the microsystem level, and Phase Two, which revealed disruption at the meso , and exosystem levels as influencing the learning and developmental outcomes of young children. The thesis makes a new contribution to knowledge regarding the influence of the pandemic on young children’s learning and development. Insights for policy based on the findings suggest post-pandemic practices as a formative response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the necessity of preparing supports for young children and their families in the event of future pandemics.
Keywords
early childhood, COVID-19, pandemic, ecological, learning, development
Date
2026-01-20
Type
Thesis
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Book
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Page Range
1-384
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ACU Department
Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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Open Access Status
Open access
License
CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
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This work © 2026 by Rebecca Jane Mahoney is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).