Limitaciones y efectos de la implementación de la educación a distancia en españa durante la pandemia de la covid 19

The widespread close down imposed on the Spanish population as a result of the Covid-19 health crisis has had radical consequences especially for children and youth who have seen their daily lives completely disrupted. For many weeks, social contact was confined to family life in the home, occasional online interaction with extended family and friends, and access to educational and extracurricular activities which had been made available online with greater or lesser success. It will take time for the consequences of this confinement for the lives of children and youth to emerge, and especially for the educational differences engendered by the transition to online teaching. The crisis caused a sudden change from face-to-face teaching to distance education for all levels – preschool, compulsory and higher education, with no or little training or provision of resources. Many students were cut off due to the digital divide associated either to unequal access to technology, generally due to economic and infrastructure issues such as internet connection, data or equipment limitations, but also due to the family’s low level of cultural capital (little or no digital literacy) or lack of effective support at home or from the school. This paper offers a first examination and discussion of the three types of digital divide (economic, cultural and institutional) in relation to the Spanish case and the context of school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, and a preliminary review of the available evidence especially related to the most vulnerable groups