COVID-19 for Italy: education doesn't stop

Since the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic, Mission Bambini has been in the front line to continue to guarantee concrete support to the network of over 35 partner organisations throughout the country: including primary and secondary schools, after-school centres and early childhood services. A network that includes about 5,000 children and young people living in conditions of economic and social deprivation.

One of the main objectives was to support and guarantee the continuity of social relations, through the use of all the technological tools we made available. Relations between student and teacher but also between children and educators, which until recently were fundamental points of reference, especially for those children and young people who lived in socially and culturally deprived family conditions.

After an important discussion with the teachers and school managers of the institutes with which we collaborate, the need to work also on didactic-methodological aspects rather than only on technological ones has emerged. As a result, since September Mission Bambini has organised training courses, in collaboration with WeSchool, the only Italian digital classroom platform, and Oppi, the Organisation for the Professional Preparation of Teachers.
Through the collaboration with WeSchool, topics such as creating and curating content suitable for distance learning lessons, setting up live distance learning lessons, organising remote group teaching activities, distance assessment, privacy and copyright were addressed. The topics dealt with through the collaboration with Oppi were the observation of class groups, the use of digital teaching platforms and the inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs. As a whole, the intervention therefore aims to improve the quality and methods of distance learning. These training courses will not only be useful during the health emergency, but also afterwards. When the pandemic is over, digital technology will not disappear completely, but it will become a useful tool for genuinely innovative, engaging and effective teaching activities, both in person and at a distance.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mission Bambini has implemented emergency measures towards the children and communities in its national network. Measures designed to meet the needs identified in the educational field and in the face of the emergence of new poverty. Among the "new poor" there is an increase in families with minors, women and young people: these are among the categories most affected by the crisis.

Looking at schools and with the start of the year 2021/2022, the Foundation will have to deal with the issue of 'learning loss', i.e. the loss of educational pathways due to the constant opening and closing of schools, in addition to the loss of relational and emotional skills, which have particularly affected those children who already showed fragility and disharmony in their growth.

Mission Bambini's intervention in favour of early childhood services

(January - September 2021)

Early childhood support actions were continuously delivered through the use of digital platforms:

- Use of the www.bambinipatapum.it platform, designed in collaboration with the network of 12 early childhood services nationwide. Throughout the closing and opening period, the platform represented an educational continuum between in-person and in-home activities. The multimedia content of the platform enabled the educators of the Early Childhood Centres to provide parents with innovative tools to continue their children's education outside the activities offered in the Early Childhood Services.

- Expansion of the "families" section within the platform by producing videos and handouts entirely dedicated to families in order to offer support for the various educational challenges parents face.

- Offering webinars for families: on various topics such as paediatric, psychological, workshop and educational through a cycle of 15 webinars attended by an average of 80 families per appointment.

- Training of the multi-tasking social worker: with the lockdown, social workers were asked to deploy other innovative skills: digital, technological, psychological, communicative and pedagogical. Mission Bambini involved more than 100 operators from all over Italy with 20 training meetings on LEAD, psychomotricity, reading, child psychology.

- Expansion of the private platform for social workers: a virtual space where operators can find videos and handouts related to the trainings. The virtual space is also a place to promote the exchange of ideas and good practices.

As of January 2021, efforts were also made to reinstate childcare support actions through:

- Extension of the closing and opening hours of the childcare centres: with the reopening of the childcare centres and the return to work, the possibility was offered to extend the opening and closing hours of the services for a broader take on children and the possibility of offering parents time for work.

- Accessibility of services 0 6: through fundraising activities Mission Bambini has covered the annual fees for enrolment in childcare services for the children of those families affected by the secondary effects of the pandemic such as unemployment and the increase in absolute poverty.

- Creation of a support fund for families: FMB has made available an aid fund for needy families with the aim of covering certain needs such as: paediatric check-ups, food expenses, utilities, purchase of medical/health materials, nursery goods, etc... By granting financial support, families sign an educational pact with the childcare centres to accompany their children to the services and participate in training courses on parenting skills.

- Home education: a service aimed at the most fragile families where, in addition to an accompanying service, careful monitoring of the children's conditions has been activated.

- Outdoor education: support for the organisation and start-up of summer centres, especially in those areas particularly affected by socio-economic needs aggravated by the lockdown.

- Digital education with two different strategies: digital accompaniment by the educator to the families on the use of devices and digital content; parent-child workshops: online sessions during which parents and children worked together with the educator on the various workshops promoted.

- Psycho-pedagogical counselling desk: aimed at families both by telephone and by setting up a listening desk.