Educational policies in times of coronavirus: The ideological confrontation in Spain

Abstract

The Education Authorities have established instructions and guidelines to regulate the end of the school year, its evaluation and the beginning of the new one, in view of the situation of suspension of classes during the third trimester and the confinement of the population to their homes, decreed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These 20 documents and 369 pages allow us to investigate the different educational policies adopted by the Autonomous Communities of Spain. A critical discourse analysis has been used. The results indicate that the standards fall between two major approaches: a more "progressive" one focused on anchoring basic and relevant learning, emotional support, and formative assessment, where the third non-attendance assessment was considered "ungradable." Another more "conservative" committed to continue teaching contents in the third trimester and to evaluate them, establishing that no promotion or degree will be given with failed subjects. However, there are a series of measures which have generated a very positive pedagogical consensus with regard to future educational policies in this country around "leaving no one behind", making the educational process more flexible, evaluation as an improvement, enhancing the didactic use of technologies, and supporting and strengthening.