Analysis of Profiles of Family Educational Situations during COVID-19 Lockdown in the Valencian Community (Spain)

Abstract

Due to the pandemic (COVID-19), the education system in Spain was forced to close for three months, creating an unprecedented situation: improvised distance schooling. Family characteristics and their life situations with Information and Communication Technology use would be aspects to be studied as educational conditioning factors. This paper presents the ways in which a representative sample of families in the Valencian Community (Spain) assumed the education of their children during the lockdown. Mixed methods (quantitative -surveys-/qualitative -focus groups-) are used. Multivariate profiles are studied (k-means cluster) that summarise the life circumstances, represented by composite indicators resulting from the families’ responses to specific items describing their way of life and educational performance. Associated variables, such as demographic or life situation characteristics, are analyzed for each profile. Some gaps (described by indicators that synthesize the functioning of the families) are observed due to life circumstances that correspond not only to vulnerable groups but also to upper-middle-level families.

Typology of Teaching Actions during COVID-19 Lockdown in the Valencian Community (Spain)

“…In this study, we use the same strategy that is used in the study of families [1] in order to construct an exploratory study that was carried out using the k-means cluster analysis, using Compound Indicators of Gaps about SH as variables and the Euclidean distance following the iteration and classification procedure; we studied different profiles of classification, using the most representative solution in each case. Then, a qualitative approach with focus groups and their analysis was performed.…”

“…This is an exploratory study based on information provided by teachers. As we explained earlier, this study is developed in the same research that pertains to the families [1]. The study uses a research strategy of mixed models (quantitative/qualitative) based on an online survey with focus groups adding and complementing information about the investigation objectives [1,[18][19][20][21]).…”

“…As we have previously discussed [1], in considering our previous experience in other socio-educational evaluative studies [25][26][27], we included a qualitative approach to better understand the results observed in the survey, and to identify any signs that had not been detected by the quantitative study. For this reason, we collected data from focus groups made up of teachers per levels of education (early childhood, basic and secondary) with teachers responsible for attending to social and educational diversity, and representative families from different economic and cultural levels.…”

“…As we have explained, "the COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in human history by affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 200 countries. Closures of schools, institutions and other learning spaces have impacted more than 94% of the world's student population" [1].…”

“…A necessary contextual aspect to understand the framework in which the study was conducted is that the type of lockdown decreed in Spain was almost absolute; no one could leave their home except for "essential professionals" (see characteristics in Table Synthesis of characteristics (Ch) of the lockdown that was carried out in Spain between 14 March and 21 June 2020 [1]).…”