Special educational needs, distance learning, inclusion and COVID-19

Petretto D. R.

;Masala I.;Masala C.

2020-01-01

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Abstract

In the last two months, school closure has been one of the more used worldwide “not-pharmacological mitigation strategies” to prevent and limit infection from COVID-19, and to delay the outbreak’s peak [1]. Over 80% of children worldwide stayed at home from school, and 188 countries have chosen this measure during the breakdown [1–5]. For instance, Italy established a complete national lockdown since the first days of March, including school closure. Therefore, until 4 May, children have been staying at home. As of today, schools are still closed but, since March, the Minister of Education, Directors of Schools, and teachers organized “distance learning” to support children’s learning during the outbreak. This type of learning is not only conducted by distance, but is also home-based, due to home confinement and social distancing during the acute phase of outbreak, and, consequently, some issues emerge, which we would like to propose for analysis.