What is the future of schooling? Resignifying the meaning of schools in the COVID-19 era

Abstract

As a result of the compulsory passage to distance education following COVID-19 pandemic, the meaning and role of the school have been actively debated if not strained. Nostalgia for physical presence and the massive digitalization of teaching and learning processes have generated a set of uncertain challenges that should be faced once the crisis is overcome. This article is the result of a study which sought to identify the main issues and challenges regarding the meaning of the school experience in the era (and after-era) of COVID-19. Based on a hermeneutic approach and a qualitative methodological proposal based on co-design, the results of the analysis of interviews conducted with 21 experts from Argentina, Australia, Chile, Spain, France, England and Venezuela are presented. Among the results, a total of 40 emerging issues about the school and its meaning in the pandemic are proposed. We conclude by recognizing the urgency of revaluing the school as an educational, socializing and transforming institution that generates spaces of encounter, care, critical literacy and exchange.