Postpandemic social work in education and community with children and young people in Catalonia (Spain)

Abstract

Summary

The outbreak of COVID-19 has generated learning based on the perspective of Community Socio-educational Resilience (CSER) applied to social work aimed at children, adolescents and young people. This article analyses the evaluations of children, young people and practitioners in Catalonia (Spain), with the aim of identifying factors that enhance and limit the socio-educational practices developed during the pandemic.

Likewise, it aims to define proposals for improvement that will enable adverse situations to be addressed. For this purpose, 30 interviews with practitioners (n=37) and 5 focus groups with children, adolescents, young people and teachers (n=36) were conducted between July 2021 and April 2022. An inductive-deductive thematic content analysis was carried out on the data collected.

Findings

The results highlight, as the main strength, the development of a proactive and positive attitude of the agents involved in the practices; as a weakness, the imposition of restrictive COVID measures; and as a proposal for improvement, the importance of increasing the capacity for adaptation and organisation of social and educational actions.

Applications

We conclude with the need to consider all of this as learning from a past situation and as principles to protect us from possible future challenges that may be encountered.