Work

Combining insights from ontological insecurity and moral panics: Post-COVID-19 discourses of young children’s ‘learning deficits’ in the United Kingdom

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Children are ambivalently positioned as both threats and redemptive agents to adult hopes and dreams. Bringing together concepts from ontological insecurity and moral panics, this article analyses media discourses in the United Kingdom on young children’s learning and development during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Three themes are discussed: how children’s learning deficits become the subject of concern, how claims behind this discourse are established, and how blame and moral outrage are directed at parents as scapegoats. The article finds that children’s inequalities are both hybervisibilised and invisibilised, limiting the potential for more radical structural and educational change.

Source: Childhood

DOI: 10.1177/09075682261490666

Authors: Marlies Kustatscher, E. Kay M. Tisdall

Institution: University of Edinburgh

Language: English

Topic: Crime, Deviance, and Social Control

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650