Community Resilience Processes in Schools with Roma Students during COVID-19: Two Case Studies in Spain

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe coping strategies for difficulties generated by the COVID-19 pandemic in schools categorized as “highly vulnerable” in Spain, mainly focusing on children from immigrant and Roma families. Within the framework of a broader research study, we focus our gaze, as a case study, on two schools using in-depth interviews with its principals. These two schools were chosen as case studies because they had shown a history of carrying out documented educational change processes for at least 3 years before the pandemic. Our analytical strategy was a qualitative content analysis of a deductive–inductive nature. The results of our study can help identify key elements for the mechanisms of “Community Socio-Educational Resilience” and show that the innovative educational strategies tested by schools in the periods prior to the pandemic facilitated the generation of specific strategies for addressing problems arising from the pandemic. These strategies contributed to cushioning the increased inequality generated by the pandemic, contributing to the social sustainability of the educational and community system.

Resilience Strategies of Students in Highly Complex Educational Contexts: Opportunities for Inclusive Pedagogical Transformation

“…The circumstances surrounding the return to face-to-face classes were discussed, with the main ones being those referring to relationships with teachers and the significant changes that had been introduced in the classrooms. The students described the feeling that teachers made an effort to offer personalized attention and use active and participatory methodologies to increase motivation and address different learning problems that resulted from the confinement [17]. In addition to the loss of learning arising in a context of telematic education during confinement, the students recognized that certain aspects related to their physical and mental health were disrupted.…”

“…These issues reflected the social and educational disparities present in contemporary society. Faced with these extremely difficult situations, the ability to develop a resilient attitude was offered as a fundamental element for students to effectively overcome the educational and social challenges that arose in the wake of the pandemic [17][18][19]. The different agents of the educational community played an essential role throughout this process, contributing to the development of resilient attitudes, approaches and practices in students.…”