Education in the time of coronavirus. The voices of Italian ECEC and primary school professionals

The new decade has begun providing the most unimaginable scenario. The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has shattered life as we know it. In a matter of days, what is first and foremost a health crisis has also led to an educational crisis as country after country ordered early childhood education and care (ECEC) and school closures. In Italy, one of the first and more severely affected countries, the government has issued a series of measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus, culminating in the closure of economic, social and cultural activities, and in particular of school and educational services for children (February-June 2020). As children, teachers and educators suddenly became homebound, education did not stop. Teaching-learning processes moved online, behind a screen. Although experimented on an untested and unprecedented scale, distance education allowed restoring – at least partially – the severed communication and relationships among educators, teachers, children, and families, tackling the prolonged educational and social deprivation experienced with the emergency. It was also an occasion to rethink and reshape pedagogical practices, and to discover new resources, both at the instrumental and relational level. On the other hand, this unprecedented challenge raised new difficulties and exacerbated already existent fragilities of the Italian educational system in its ability to reach and support all children and especially those from weaker socio-economic backgrounds. The present contribution, set within the broader research project Education for Social Justice (E4SJ), explores those issues through a set of qualitative interviews conducted with Italian ECEC and primary school teachers and educators. Professionals’ voices offer significant insights and contribute to the discussion on this topic.