COVID-19 and the Educational Response: New Educational and Social Realities

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Background

This research topic inquires into multiple and diverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on education within various international contexts as billions navigate new educational and social realities.

This crisis has led educators at all levels of PreK-20 and their stakeholders to question basic premises about the educational system. Indeed, taken-for-granted educational experiences have been brought under scrutiny, including face-to-face classes, instructional pedagogy, discrepancy in resources, and the very nature of school itself.

It is estimated that school closures in 184 countries to contain the spread Covid-19 are disrupting the education of 290.5 million elementary and secondary children (UNESCO, March 22) globally. Approximately 99.9 million higher education students have been affected (ICEF, 2018). The impact is without precedent. Mandated social lockdowns in communities throughout the globe have disrupted educational institutions and their business as usual and accepted norms of teaching and learning and the typical processes and procedures. Signs suggest that this crisis has forced massive changes to almost every aspect of schooling.

This research topic seeks inquiries into both the nature of these immediate changes, but also studies of the possible impacts these changes could have beyond the current movement and into the uncertain educational future post COVID-19.

Unforeseen disrupting events in schooling are not new, and their impacts are often long lasting for the communities affected, especially the most vulnerable among us. Some of these societal and natural disruptions become opportunities to radically reshape educational institutions, as these moments of collective trauma, provide opportunities “to engage in radical social and economic engineering” (Klein, 2007, p. 8). For example, New Orleans schools were radically reshaped in structure, practice, population and governance after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Educational opportunities were changed significantly in China after the Cultural Revolution in 1966, and in the U.S. and Europe after WWII. While the nature and scope of the changes currently emerging, and yet to emerge, through the global pandemic of COVID-19 is not similar in nature to these events, one can expect that practices for many aspects of the educational endeavor to be changed dramatically.

This call provides an opportunity for scholars to examine the immediate pivots in response to education that have occurred in educational contexts and to create a flexible roadmap that examines possibilities for what may come. We welcome contributions from all roles within the educational community; students, parents, practitioners, administrators and policy makers. The themes suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

• Pre-k - Secondary - supporting students, families, teachers and schools in the transition to distance or on-line education and other types of educational support.
• Post-secondary - how colleges, universities and other post-secondary trainings are managing the pivots to and communication of changes.
• Teacher Education - how teacher training and development of new teachers has been impacted.
• Educational Technology/On-line Instruction - an examination to the changing nature of distance pedagogy, new technological resources and how purposes and relational education are effected.
• Cultural Diversity and Social Justice - examinations of impacts on vulnerable communities and how power might be reconfigured in our new emerging educational reality.
• All other segments of education; including, but not limited to policy makers, professional support, educational health, educational psychology etc.

Article types that will be accepted include, Original Research (qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods), Policy Analysis, Systematic Review, Program Analysis, Theoretical/Conceptual Analysis, and Community Case Study.

Efforts are made to imagine education, educational research, and results broadly to examine multiple perspectives and contexts in this research topic.

***Due to the exceptional nature of the COVID-19 situation, Frontiers is waiving all article publishing charges for COVID-19 related research.***

Keywords: pandemic, education, social disruption, teaching, covid-19, coronavirus

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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