Early Childhood and Lockdown: The Challenge of Building a Virtual Mutual Support Network between Children, Families and School for Sustainable Education and Increasing Their Well-Being

Sustainability

Rafel Argemí-Baldich¹  AnaBelén Cano-Hila² 

[1] Department of Methods of Research and Diagnosis in Education, Faculty of Education, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain;Department of Sociology, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona, Avinguda Diagonal 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: early childhood;    lockdown;    e-learning;    mutual support;    reciprocity;    solidarity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su13073654

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The COVID-19 pandemic is questioning the achievement of main challenges we face as a society, for instance, to ensure a free, equitable, and good quality compulsory education for all children or to reduce social inequality. During the spring lockdown, particularly in Spain, schools were closed for six months and a process of virtualization of teaching was total; that context generated important educational challenges. This paper presents and analyses forms of digital reciprocity and solidarity among pre-primary education children, families, and teachers, by presenting a case study of the parents’ WhatsApp class groups and a collaborative YouTube channel. The procedure developed was netnography and the data analysis followed the model of grounded theory. Both digital spaces created by parents have become a network of mutual support. It has had multiple positive impacts: (i) providing and receiving social support; (ii) generating dynamics of reciprocity and empowerment; and (iii) activating values that generate a sense of community (feeling of belonging, trust, etc.). The case study shows how virtual networks increase the subjective well-being of participants in a difficult context and also invites reflection about the key role of cultural capital of the parents as a key element in the conditions of educability of children, especially in e-learning of pre-primary education.

【 授权许可】

Unknown