Educational Poverty and Deprivation: Attitudes and the Role of Teachers during the Pandemic

Educational poverty is widespread in compulsory education in terms of poor learning and\r\nsocio-cultural disadvantages; it affects students with disabilities, students with learning difficulties,\r\nand those with an immigrant background. During the pandemic crisis, students with special educational needs (SENs) mostly suffered the risk of an additional deprivation. Within an advanced\r\ninclusive model during school closure, the Italian State guaranteed access to schools only to students\r\nwith disabilities. What effects did this “equalizing” measure produce? What kinds of attitudes have\r\nteachers adopted and what roles have they played (active vs. passive) in order to make it sustainable?\r\nWhat was their acknowledgement of the educational poverty and deprivation? To what extent\r\nwere their attitudes differentiated? This article explores the roles and attitudes of teachers during\r\nperiods of lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. We assume that the teachers’\r\nattitudes were differentiated on the basis of five cultural dimensions (auto/hetero-referencing; vision\r\nof remote teaching; relationship with bureaucracy, relationships with students; teaching as performance or relation), and two functions (classroom teachers/ SENs teachers). The study is based on\r\n42 semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers, principals, and parents in six lower secondary\r\npublic schools with high rates of SENs students and multi-ethnicity (Northern Italy), and focused\r\non the organisational, teaching, and relational aspects. Results seem to confirm that not all teachers\r\nagreed with the Ministry line and adopted a range of responses to the challenge of maintaining\r\ninclusivity, from the inert/impatient to the creative/active ones. Their attitudes changed during the\r\npost-pandemic period from atomistic to more collaborative, and their preoccupation with the fragile\r\n“uncertified students” increased. The article closes with recommendations on teacher training.