Analysis of the implementation of teaching and learning processes at Catalan schools during the Covid-19 lockdown

Abstract

Most countries around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions with the aim of containing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. How have schools overcome these challenges and delivered education during the confinement period? The purpose of this research was to analyse how primary and secondary schools in Catalonia (Spain) implemented the teaching and learning process during the lockdown, based on 48 semi-structured interviews with school principals from different types of schools, located in urban and rural environments, and from diverse socioeconomic statuses. This article shows that there is a digital divide in students and teachers, emotional accompaniment as a need for online learning, older students are more autonomous and self-regulate better their own learning process, each school used their own strategy because there was no programme prepared for emergency situations, teachers had difficulties in self-regulating their work and communication with families became essential.

Special issue: Covid-19 and the role of technology and pedagogy on school education during a pandemic

“…High-tech, high socio-economic households were likely to also be advantaged by correlating to parents with higher levels of education who could better support their children's learning (for example, Bokayev et al, 2021;Greenhow et al, 2020). This was particularly relevant for parents of younger children and children with special needs who played a significant role in their children's education during the pandemic (Palau et al, 2021;Parmigiani et al, 2020). Digital inequities can amplify educational inequities when formal education moves from the school to the home in times of crises.…”

“…A common recommendation across articles is the need to develop emergency response plans to prepare education systems for the future (Delcker & Ifenthaler, 2020;Bokayev et al, 2021;Ewing & Cooper, 2021;Palau et al, 2021). Although many resources have been invested in the last two decades to incorporate technology into education, the emergency situation derived from the pandemic has shown that education systems globally were not prepared to take on the challenge of implementing online or blended learning in schools (Reimers & Schleicher, 2020).…”

“…Public policies in education should be oriented towards the teachers' professional learning within the transformation of educational models rather than the provision of technological resources. In addition, in emergency situations, teachers need to be able to provide emotional support for students (Palau et al, 2021;Yates et al, 2020), and for teachers of younger children and those with special needs they need to be confident in adapting their practices to collaborate with parents (Parmigiani et al, 2020). In addition, the blurring of the home and school boundaries has implications for future digital infrastructure policies.…”

“…The final article also draws on the experience of school leaders, in Catalonia (Palau et al, 2021). This article identified important aspects of education when school learning moves into the home.…”

Special issue: Covid-19 and the role of technology and pedagogy on school education during a pandemic

“…High-tech, high socio-economic households were likely to also be advantaged by correlating to parents with higher levels of education who could better support their children's learning (for example, Bokayev et al, 2021;Greenhow et al, 2020). This was particularly relevant for parents of younger children and children with special needs who played a significant role in their children's education during the pandemic (Palau et al, 2021;Parmigiani et al, 2020). Digital inequities can amplify educational inequities when formal education moves from the school to the home in times of crises.…”