ABSTRACT
The activities in this chapter offer a range of ways to consider how we learn, what will support wellbeing and how we might want to develop our collective learning-wellbeing futures in a COVID-impacted world. Considering these activities from the perspective of living in a COVID-impacted world hopefully puts to one side the differing conceptualisations of where we now are. We argue that viewing our collective situation as in a “post-pandemic” phase belies the ongoing presence of disease and the long-term negative health impacts that many people are suffering with Long COVID. Public health responses and management have changed, but the impacts of recent years are with us now and seem likely to cast a long shadow into future years. The wide-ranging and significant impacts of the COVID pandemic on learning and opportunities are examined and discussed in this chapter. We look at the research which is revealing significant negative impacts on the wellbeing and learning of young people. These impacts are likely to persist into future years and continue to affect many people in their future lives. The COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities study carried out by the Sutton Trust and UCL has found nearly 50% of young people had not caught up with learning missed out on during the height of the COVID pandemic, rising to nearly 60% of young people who had experienced Long COVID. The impact on the wellbeing of young people is also significant, with research by the Prince's Trust finding nearly 50% of the young people surveyed lacked hope in the future. The combination of missed learning, not being able as yet to catch up, and reduced or absent hope for a better future is of obvious significance to both young people themselves and to wider society.
