With schools closed around the world during the pandemic, the use of technology and distance education has solved the problems and dysfunctions that have arisen. Students, their families, and school personnel have all been affected by the numerous challenges and barriers that have arisen because of distance education. This chapter seeks to evaluate school-family collaboration throughout the pandemic period. The study focuses on families with children who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their experiences with inclusive education. While the COVID-19 pandemic was underway, parents of children with SEND faced a variety of challenges, including a lack of resources, financial difficulties, communication difficulties, and a lack of attention from teachers. Parents believe that economic, social, and language limitations impede the effectiveness of online inclusion, whereas their digital abilities enable them to aid their children on both technical and psychological levels in overcoming distant learning difficulties.
TopIntroduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many parts of the world in areas directly related to human life, with education being the area that seems to be most affected after the health sector (Telli-Yamamoto & Altun, 2020). Many nations throughout the world have temporarily shuttered their schools or enforced local restrictions on schools and institutions due to the crisis. According to estimates from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2020a), around 1.5 billion children and students have been affected by school closures, exacerbated educational inequality, and disproportionately impacted disadvantaged communities. Almost all education systems in the world were forced, in a very short time, to introduce technology as well as methods of e-government. It is noteworthy that the term referring to how quickly this learning process was implemented is “Emergency distance learning” is one (Hodges et al., 2020).
Among other things, the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the digital transformation of education. Changes that would have taken years to take place under other circumstances happened in a short period, preventing students and educators from making a smoother transition. It is a fact that the use of distance education methods has the potential to offer significant benefits, but it seems to have a controversial impact on those involved in educational activities. While the introduction of distance education strategies was impulsively reflected in the abrupt cessation of educational processes, these strategies were motivated by concerns about educational equality, inclusion, and the need to ensure that distance education content and implementation did not cause additional educational and social inequalities (Sfakiotaki, 2020). The use of technology in education has provided an immediate solution to the problems of day-to-day education that have arisen as a result of the pandemic. It has also raised barriers to the inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs (SEND), as online learning creates opportunities for some students but is not ideal for large groups of students (Zhao, 2020). As UNESCO (2020b) points out in the Global Education Monitoring Report Summary, “In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic not only brought more inequalities to light but also contributed to deepening them, making our societies more fragile” (p.7).
Technology was employed both at the level of school administration and in the instructional process, as well as for communication between school units and their respective parents. Schools were invited to adopt new but effective ways of communicating with all parents and students regularly, as the physical presence of both the teaching staff and the parents and students was not allowed on the school premises. Thus, school and family communication became primarily electronic because of the use of multiple means and practices made available by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) (Kessopoulou & Tsimpidaki, 2021). Making the transition to online learning strengthened the notions of familial bonds and parental engagement in their children’s education (Daub et al., 2021). The majority of educators agreed that effective communication and cooperation between teachers and parents are essential for maximizing students' learning outcomes. Instructors also showed that they were aware of cultural and language differences and the importance of being aware of different learning styles (Daub et al., 2021).
Recognizing that school and family systematic communication is an important parameter for successful collaboration between the two parts (Epstein, 2013; Solone et al., 2020; Kazanopoulos et al., 2021), the present chapter seeks to examine school-family collaboration during the pandemic period in secondary and primary education in Greece but also internationally. The study will focus on families with children with SEND and their experiences with inclusive schooling. The next section will provide a brief description of the concepts of distance learning, inclusive education, and collaboration between families and schools in the context of their integration into the conditions of Emergency Remote Teaching.