Rethinking online education during lockdown: the view of families in Castile and León

Abstract

The COVID 19 pandemic crisis forced the closure of all school institutions and promoted online learning in Spain. Thus, in a short time, thousands of students had to change their routines and ways of learning, a fact that impacted in different ways on family organizations in the country. This study presents the vision of families in the Autonomous Community of Castile and León on how they faced this situation and their assessment of the measures taken by the educational administrations during the state of crisis and compulsory confinement decreed since March 2020. The methodology of the study is quantitative, with a descriptive approach. An online survey was applied to a representative sample of 570 members of family units in the Autonomous Community and descriptive statistical analysis, hypothesis testing, and qualitative content analysis were carried out on the information collected. The results show the persistent hurdles to access media and digital resources in the most vulnerable population, the generalized demand for making educational and evaluative processes more flexible in schools in exceptional cases such as the pandemic, and a critical view of some educational policies adopted, which have focused on advancing content and examining it, sometimes disregarding the diversity of students.