Abstract:

In the months of the emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fundamental need has been to structure a school community which could cope with this new situation. On the one hand it was necessary to rethink the organization and implement the infrastructure, providing schools with secure digital platforms to encourage collaboration and team management, on the other hand, it was necessary to reflect on a new planning of the teaching-learning process, from the multidisciplinary and multilevel aspects, planning and providing material for the comprehensive development of students.

It was essential to combine the didactic dimension and the personal relationships, creating an exchange network between teachers, students and families that could be an opportunity to consolidate new practices that are integrated in the classroom, but also to face the feeling of loneliness and isolation. In this system of communication thanks to a renewed educational school-family alliance, it is possible to detect weaknesses in the entire system characterized by different digital, social, and cultural gaps.

This paper aims to describe and analyze how teachers in Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Schools in some European countries, including Italy and Spain, have dealt with this situation. The way in which they have managed the current resources, the feeling of community, and the structuring of a functional and credible response at an educational level.

To carry out this study we have proposed a series of questions to collect information on socio-demographic variables such as age and country of origin, professional aspects such as years of teaching and questions about the organizing of the methodology applied, the methods used, attention to diversity, the relationship with the class group and families, the planning of self-evaluation and assessment, as well as expectations for the future when the schools reopen.

The analysis of information through the NVIVO-12 software makes it possible to highlight some common aspects of distance learning, such as concern for the most vulnerable situations, attention to emotional aspects, the need to rethink the organizational skills of schools, and the management of networks and resources. In conclusion, it is important to note that expanding technologies in schools offer great resources and should not be reversed. Nevertheless, we will have to move away from the risk and temptation to convert schools into computerized schools.

Keywords:

COVID-19, digital learning, interdisciplinarity, technology, usability.