Touch
It has been 2 weeks since lockdown lifted for schools and so I have been back at work with the children. It has been tiring being back, but lovely to see everyone in person and not through a screen. It has been a busy but rewarding time. Since being back I have noticed a change in the children. Many of them seem to be craving a close connection to the staff, including staying in at breaks and lunch to talk to us, drawing us lots of pictures or writing us notes, but also some of them wanting to hug us. This is really interesting to me as it fits into my research on the use of touch. As teachers, we have to be very careful and strict with the use of touch as sadly there have been cases of misconduct reported in the media, which have made people very wary of touch. We also have to be very strict due to Covid-19 and the health and safety of everyone. There is a lot of negative associations with touch, but very rarely do we acknowledge the importance of it. Touching is ‘an essential e...