Exploring the Impact of the Pandemic and School Closure in Workingclass Secondary Students in Madrid and Barcelona According to their Migration Status and Gender

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the academic and social life of children and adolescents continues to be of concern because of the serious consequences it may have for an entire generation of students, especially for those who were in more vulnerable situations for different reasons, particularly for third country national students. Paradoxically, since the beginning of the closure and when schools reopened for face-to-face classes intermittently, the specific needs of this group of students and the effects of academic and social isolation as possible aggravating risk factors have been absent from the public debate on education in the pandemic, beyond general mentions of family impoverishment and the digital divide. Nor have issues that were already alarming been addressed, such as the differences between the school attachment of boys and girls, which intersect with the former ones. This paper presents some of the findings and conclusions of a prospective study within the project IntegratED. Promoting Meaningful Integration of Third-Country Nationals Children to Education (776143-EU-AMIF). Drawing on interviews with the teaching staff of eight secondary schools in Madrid and Barcelona in autumn 2020, we focus on the impact of the pandemic and school closure on these students from a comparative approach of schools, national origin, and gender, in the larger context of the transformations, readjustments and consequences experienced by all students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds