ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 25 June 2021 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.687400 Uses of Digital Mediation in the School-Families Relationship During the COVID-19 Pandemic Blanca León-Nabal 1† , Cristina Zhang-Yu 2† and José Luis Lalueza 1*† 1 Department of General, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain, 2 Department of Psychology, Institute of Educational Research, University of Girona, Girona, Spain The COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened the inequalities in our societies. In Spain, we observed that the impact on schooling varied according to socioeconomic, gender and sociocultural variables. In this article, we present a case analysis illustrating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on schooling in early educational grades (ages 3–6), which leads us to focus on school-family relationship. First, we present some studies that show Edited by: the inequalities in education during the lockdown period, the digital divide faced by both Pilar Lacasa, schools and families and how digital mediation impacts school-family relationships. Then University of Alcalá, Spain we will introduce our study, which aims to explore the uses, potentials and limitations of Reviewed by: an app intended to facilitate the relationship. Our study took place during September Francesco Di Carlo, University of Studies G. d’Annunzio 2020-January 2021, when social restriction persisted. It took the form of a telematic Chieti and Pescara, Italy ethnography in which we monitored the meetings of the Early Childhood Education Verónica Violant-Holz, University of Barcelona, Spain teachers and their interaction with the families via an app-based communication tool. *Correspondence: Results have allowed us to identify that most conversations are initiated by the school José Luis Lalueza and their aim is to show families the classroom activities. We have also observed some joseluis.lalueza@uab.cat advantages regarding the use of this app: communication can become more direct and † These authors have contributed immediate, and teachers have developed strategies to foster proximity in this relationship, equally to this work and share first as well as to respond inclusively to diversity. Regarding the challenges, we identified the authorship lack of involvement of some families, the need to transform the roles played by families Specialty section: and children, and the difficulty to maintain personalized relationships. This article was submitted to Human-Media Interaction, Keywords: funds of knowledge, digital interaction, school-families interaction, schools on pandemics, mobile app a section of the journal uses Frontiers in Psychology Received: 30 March 2021 PANDEMIC AND DIGITAL DIVIDE Accepted: 27 May 2021 Published: 25 June 2021 The crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted schools around the world. There Citation: was a first phase (more or less prolonged, according to the circumstances in each country) León-Nabal B, Zhang-Yu C and characterized by home confinement and the cessation of face-to-face educational activities. This Lalueza JL (2021) Uses of Digital Mediation in the School-Families was followed by a second phase in which students returned to classrooms, but subject to restrictions Relationship During the COVID-19 and measures to ensure social distancing. Pandemic. Focusing on the first phase, the physical closure of the schools in Spain took place without Front. Psychol. 12:687400. a contingency plan for the lengthy duration of this situation (in most European countries it doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.687400 persisted until the end of the school year, a period of 3–4 months). As a result, academic authorities Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation and school boards had to improvise mechanisms for the These observations are derived from a study in which continuing implementation of distance learning with the the population sample was biased by socioeconomic, gender resources available at that time. The need to organize effective and sociocultural variables. Since Bonal and González (2021) forms of distance learning severely tested schools’ capabilities. conducted the study during the lockdown, it was necessary On the one hand, the necessary technological resources for to have internet connection, time and interest to respond to virtual two-way communication had to be assured, both in the questionnaire. This might explain why the participation schools and in the students’ homes (Bozkurt and Sharma, 2020). of families with university-educated parents was significantly On the other hand, teaching methods had to be mediated by higher than that of the population. It would seem reasonable to technologies appropriate for distance learning. In some cases, hypothesize that the situation is much worse than the impression these methods had already been developed, but in others they had provided by this study, since it is precisely the families that suffer to be improvised (Schleicher, 2020). most from the digital divide that are least likely to have taken part. The pandemic-induced school closures have aggravated social During pandemics, school-family relationships became inequalities, as is starkly apparent in households’ access to the particularly important. Telematic classes challenged the physical resources that enable remote connection (Casado et al., 2018). space of learning (traditionally associated with schools) and According to the COTEC Foundation study, 66% of the students homes became the new classroom. This means that families not with a high socioeconomic level have three or more computers at only be able to afford internet connection and digital artifacts, but home, compared to just 10% of those with a low socioeconomic also appropriate space, equipment and environmental conditions level, most of which have only one (45%) or none (15%). for class participation. Parents became mediators of the teaching- Additionally, the gap in school digitisation is manifest from the learning process (the younger the child, the more important the ownership of the centers. While only 45% of the heads of public role played by the parents), supervising communication with schools believe their teachers are trained to integrate digital school and providing the material, intellectual and emotional devices into their classes, this figure rises to 69% in subsidized resources necessary for the activity to take place (Trujillo-Sáez schools and 76% in private schools (Zubillaga and Gortazar, in et al., 2020). In many cases, the scarcity of these resources was press). aggravated by the economic impact of the pandemic: parents The data currently available suggest that the pandemic crisis had less time to support their children’s school activity due to is widening the gap in access to formal education, depending the need to seek alternative informal income, or because they on the families’ socioeconomic capacity and cultural capital and remained in employment but performed essential low-skilled the schools’ resources. In Catalonia (the region in which our tasks, which were necessarily on-site. research was conducted, at a school in Barcelona), Bonal and Tarabini and Jacovkis (2020) conducted an online González (2021) revealed the impact of the pandemic on the questionnaire during the lockdown. Answered by 2.777 teachers educational and social divide. These authors conducted a macro- from Catalonia, the results in this report highlighted the social survey of over 30,000 families during the 1st months of lockdown. gap that affects schools, students and their families. According Their results show a digital divide that affects families of low to their results, many families had access to the internet on socioeconomic status, which is manifest in indicators such as their smartphones; while computers were much less frequently the availability of digital devices (in many cases there is less available (according to 34.5% of the teachers, very few of the than one per person, or even just a single device, a mobile families whose children attended their school had a computer in phone, for the entire family). This parameter is directly related the house). Similarly, children were much less likely to have a to the time that students can dedicate to connected-at-home digital device available for their exclusive use. This is consistent classwork. The statistic that best illustrates the impact on these with the results on the participatory design research conducted families is that of “opportunities to learn,” reflected in variables by Gros et al. (2018) with migrant population in Barcelona: such as support for home working, online communication with the participants are actually involved in our mobile-centric the teacher and the timely correction of homework by the society (González-Patiño and Esteban-Guitart, 2014) showing teacher. The study found that 28.3% of the students in this that, despite of their socioeconomic situation, the smartphone socioeconomic group dedicated <1 h a day to school activities, is central in their lives. Moreover, the authors invite us to think lacked access to communication with the teaching staff and did not only in terms of access to technology and the internet, but not have their homework corrected. The authors also found the usage of it. This is the so-called second digital divide (Büchi that the degree to which families help their children with et al., 2015). In this sense, the study by Gros et al. (2018) shows schoolwork, a factor that is especially relevant during lockdown that the principal usage of the smartphone is social interaction as all class activity takes place in the home, and depends heavily and communication (by call or social networks) that connects on the parents’ own educational background. Thus, 35% of the them to their families and friends and facilitates daily life (such mothers who had only completed compulsory education helped as e-mail or weather forecast). their secondary school children, while 45% of the university- educated mothers assisted their children. The corresponding figures for the fathers were even more marked, at 16 and 32%, Innovation in School-Family Relationships respectively. Family and extracurricular activities, which make a and Digital Technologies as a Tool notable contribution to school skills, were also associated with the In contrast to this gloomy picture, educational observers have parents’ social class. reported that many schools, despite the difficulties encountered Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 2 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation during the months of lockdown, have revealed great reserves of is necessary to accept that conflict is part of relationships, so creativity, resilience, and innovation in coping with the situation strategies must be sought for its resolution with respect, dialogue (Cervantes Holguín and Gutiérrez Sandoval, 2020). This aspect of and trust (Epstein, 2002). the real-world response is not reflected in the prior, quantitative- One concrete proposal that aims to respond to the challenges based research data that we cite, and which have proliferated presented by discontinuities between family and school is the during this period. In this line of argumentation, Iglesias et al. funds of knowledge approach (González et al., 2005). From (2020) identify schools whose resilience to the crisis would be this perspective, it is assumed that all families (regardless of found in relation to the innovation processes that were underway their origin, culture, language, religion, economic situation, before the pandemic. etc.) have knowledge, skills and relationships. Therefore, they In schools with most students from families that do not have resources that can contribute to academic learning. This belong to the hegemonic culture or to wealthy socioeconomic approach is specified in the formation of a teaching team in backgrounds, these innovation processes often correspond to ethnographic research -through a study group focused on funds a rethinking of relationships with families. These new models of knowledge-, as well as in the implementation, by the teaching start from a critical perspective of the deficient perspective staff, of ethnographic visits to the homes of some families of the low academic performing students and their families. (Moll, 2014). These visits have the aim of identifying household According to the model of family-school discontinuities (Poveda, knowledge so that they can be integrated into classroom life and 2001), differences in performance can be explained by a lack of generate curricular learning. coherence between the values and interaction formats of school Various studies focused on funds of knowledge show how and family. This is because school practices and values are not teachers become aware of their own prejudices toward families, neutral, but rather reproduce the hegemonic culture typical of of their position of power, of the ethnocentrism and racism well-off socioeconomic contexts (Tozer, 2000). To transform the that pervades the school institution and conceptions about school to be coherent with the family, it is essential to build fluid upbringing (Zhang-Yu et al., 2020), etc. Therefore, through and close personal relationships (Poveda, 2001). Bronfenbrenner home visits, it is possible to question traditional and established (1979), in his ecological theory, has highlighted the importance teachers’ roles as expert, modifying the asymmetry and enabling of collaboration, mutual understanding and agreement between closer relationships (Whyte and Karabon, 2016). microsystems -in this case, the school and the family- to favor However, given the current pandemic situation, approaches human development -in this case of the boy or girl-, creating such as this are limited by the restrictions imposed. According educational continuities between both. to Iglesias et al. (2020), the situation caused by COVID-19 However, family-school relationship is not built from highlights social and educational inequalities that already existed. neutrality, but within the framework of the school institution. To respond to them, personal engagement and care are very Therefore, it is based on the parameters of the hegemonic important, as well as the need to diversify forms of relating and middle-class culture and, in addition, asymmetric power to families. In addition, COVID-19 restrictions impose new relationships come into play in these links (Whyte and Karabon, forms of relationship in which digital technologies open up 2016), as well as the legitimation of a certain worldview and new possibilities. The great challenge is to identify, in this understanding of what school education is, and how families dystopian situation, the opportunities to accelerate changes should be involved in it. Often, teachers identify family attitude as toward educational improvement (Iglesias et al., 2020). an obstacle to bonding with them (García-Bacete, 2003). Instead, In recent years, the emergence of new digital technologies teachers should assume the responsibility to build diverse and and their permanent and ubiquitous accessibility to information equitable relationships with families. This requires a progressive (Jenkins, 2006) has transformed our way of being, doing, learning approach to co-responsibility, and an openness to transforming and relating. Technology has become part of the day-to-day traditional school/family relationship formats (Collet-Sabé et al., life of most school and family contexts. However, although 2014). technologies have entered the classroom, they do not usually Consequently, it is necessary to promote accessibility so that transform teaching-learning processes and, much less, family- families feel recognized and welcomed in school, so that they can school relationships (Grant, 2009; Macià and Garreta, 2018). utilize the knowledge currently invisible by the deficit paradigm There are many authors who defend the great potential (Esteban-Guitart and Vila, 2013a). In this sense, new models that digital technologies can have to improve family-school propose to leave behind a communication focused on negative relationships. Among the benefits that stand out, we highlight aspects of the students, guaranteeing that there is also space its potential for: (a) the creation of more open and collaborative to deal with their potentialities (Epstein, 2002). In addition, educational communities; (b) the participation of those families they require the creation of prior intersubjectivity between that usually do not get involved in school (Vázquez et al., both agents that allows favoring two-way communication, 2014); and (c) the creation of new contexts and patterns of information between contexts—that is, families can also share knowledge, which favor the construction of more democratic and with the school their daily activities, tastes, values and knowledge participatory schools (Aguilar and Leiva, 2012). (Oliva and Palacios, 1998; Epstein, 2002)—and mutual trust They can also contribute to the creation of a third space (Esteban-Guitart and Vila, 2013b). (Gutiérrez, 2008; Lalueza et al., 2019), that is, a hybrid space In addition, moving toward the recognition and legitimation in which the different motivations of the participants (students, of marginalized cultures implies coping with the conflicts that families and teachers) are legitimized, and in which, thanks may arise between school and family cultures (Tozer, 2000). It to negotiation processes, shared learning objectives are created Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 3 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation (Gutiérrez, 2008; Lalueza and Macías-Gómez-Estern, 2020). service had been compromised by the closure of the school. Finally, this approach increases the quality of communication so Furthermore, many families were in a precarious economic that all members of the school community become producers, situation, having been deprived of their livelihood by the not merely consumers or receivers of knowledge (Fischer and lockdown. The distribution of food vouchers was a major priority Bloomfield, 2019). during the first round of contacts, as the school considered However, desirable there is also agreement that these the children’s welfare to be its primary function, well-ahead of potentialities are not used in practice (Beneyto-Seoane academic concerns. and Collet-Sabé, 2016). Some of the obstacles identified to Secondly, the school addressed the emotional and social needs using digital technologies in a transformative way in family- arising from the enforced isolation. Telephone conversations school relationships are the lack of infrastructure or material, informed the school about the families’ situations, how they were inadequacy of training (both for families and teachers), coping and about the lack of space and resources that many were inequalities of access, and unfavorable attitudes toward these experiencing. Paradoxically, the absence of face-to-face contact resources (Beneyto-Seoane and Collet-Sabé, 2016; Macià and enabled us to learn more about the lives of these children and Garreta, 2018). Finally, the lack of reflection and evaluation on their families. Many families expressed their appreciation of the the use of these tools also limits their transformative potential school’s efforts: just making contact and expressing the school’s (Grant, 2009). concern was warmly welcomed and, the school managers believe, However, given the current pandemic situation, what seemed reinforced mutual trust. like a desirable option has become an imperative to promote The third priority was to draw up guidelines for action and continuity of family-school relations. Digital technologies challenges that would keep the students focused on goal-oriented are currently an essential channel for communicating and activities. Accordingly, strict adherence to the school curriculum connecting with families. Therefore, it seems relevant to highlight was the last of our concerns. Thus, according to Tarabini and some fundamental ideas on how to use these tools in a Jacovkis (2020), while at many of the schools attended by children transformative way. from middle and upper-class families, the school’s connection with families at home was aimed at maintaining curricular activity, in our case, issues such as food availability and emotional CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCH well-being took center stage, relegating curricular learning to a secondary consideration. This study has been developed in a public school located in As commented above, the first medium used to relate the Bon Pastor neighborhood, a working-class environment in with families was that of the telephone. This channel was Barcelona, Spain. Most of the students (aged 3–16 years old) necessary and irreplaceable for making the first contact, but belong to Roma ethnicity, or are descendants of African, Asian is inefficient for long-term communication, since it requires or Latin American migrants. a synchronous connection for each family. Hence, new forms This study has been conducted in the framework of a longer- of interconnection emerged, based on the use of mobile term action-research programme (Lamas and Lalueza, 2012; phones. Very few of the families had access to a PC, laptop Lalueza et al., 2020; Lamas et al., 2020; Walker et al., 2021). For or tablet, but all had at least one mobile phone, and this almost 2 years before the declaration of the pandemic we had instrument provided a resource and a dimension that was been implementing a Funds of Knowledge exercise as a strategy both “natural” and radically different from landline-based to transform school-family relations within Early Childhood phone calls. Education. Due to this experience and our positioning within the Furthermore, the use of mobile phones as a means of school, we were able to follow events in situ during the lockdown communication was supported by pre-lockdown experience, so and after. So, the researchers had direct access to the school that we were aware which approaches and methods worked and activity during the lockdown, monitoring the teachers’ meetings which did not. In the analog experience, course meetings, parent- regarding the strategies to be adopted by the school for virtual teacher association meetings, interviews unrelated to specific relationships with the children’s families. problems and printed circulars were all ineffective as channels When the state of alarm was decreed in March, schools of communication. Similarly, among digital resources, neither were suddenly faced with the need to connect the teachers, the school’s website nor its use of e-mails proved satisfactory. the children and the families, in their respective homes. At On the other hand, just as in face-to-face activity before the the school examined in this study, the teachers were contacted pandemic, meetings at the school gates at the beginning or end and coordinated by e-mail and telephone, but these channels of the school day, activities related to the presentation of the were soon replaced by videoconferencing. Connection with the students’ audiovisual output and meetings arising from the Funds families was first established by telephone. The management of Knowledge programme all worked well. Also effective, in team called each family, one by one (only one family could not be digital communication, were Instagram and a communication located by this means), and this initial contact served to identify app called Dinantia1 the children’s main needs. Prior to the pandemic, Instagram had served as a showcase The first necessity was to respond to basic nutritional for activities carried out within the school and during demands, since many of the children had been receiving free school meals, to ensure a nourishing, balanced diet. This 1 https://www.dinantia.com/en/. Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 4 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation TABLE 1 | Data categorization. Thematic blocks and theoretical questions Dimensions Block 1: School-family continuity in a context of cultural diversity and social vulnerability Do current practices related to the school-family relationship and to the use of digital technologies allow or favor… • … awareness of the deficit paradigm and the adoption of a critical attitude in this respect? Focusing on the families • … awareness of the ethnocentrism and racism of the school institution (and of us all, individually), spurring us to transform these outlooks? • … awareness of the power relations present in the family-school relationship, especially in contexts of discontinuity, and their transformation into reciprocity? • … the existence of two-way communication and information exchange between the contexts of school and home? Bidirectionality • … the identification, appreciation and legitimization of sociocultural practices, values, languages and relationships that differ from those of the hegemonic culture? • … the socio-interactive repertoires of all cultural groups involved to be incorporated into classroom life? • … the evaluation and improvement of all these practices? Evaluation Block 2: School-family continuity via relational and affective factors Do current practices related to the school-family relationship and to the use of digital technologies allow or favor… • … the existence of smooth, continuous communication? Access to teachers • … families’ feeling comfortable, welcomed and recognized in their relations with the school? Affectivity • … mutual trust? • … interaction not only regarding conflictive questions, but also positive ones? • … the recognition and resolution of conflicts through dialogue? • … contextualizing school-family relations according to the characteristics of each family? Attention to diversity • … the school to improve its relationship with all families? • … the construction of diverse and equitable relationships, offering families diverse ways, times and strategies for communicating with the school and enhancing their involvement? • … the inclusion of every family, not just those which are easily addressed? • … the evaluation and improvement of all these practices? Evaluation Block 3: School-family continuity via digital technologies Do current practices related to the school-family relationship and to the use of digital technologies allow or favor… • … building a more participatory, open and democratic educational community? Participation by the families • … families to become producers of content and not just recipients? • … families to become involved in decision-making regarding the use of mobile app? • … learning contexts to be connected via the creation of a third space? Connection between learning contexts • … children’s playing an active role in family-school mediation? • … greater efficiency in communication? Efficiency • … the evaluation of mobile app as a means of enhancing the family-school relationship? Evaluation outings. During the lockdown, it provided a tutorial for encountered, in the Early Childhood Education grades of a families with children in Early Childhood Education and public school in a low-income environment. in the 1st years of primary school. It also constituted a hub of proposals for family activities. The mobile app, Data Collection on the other hand, was a one-way communication tool Our study took place during the period September 2020-January that had previously been used as a substitute for the 2021, and took the form of a telematic ethnography in which school’s provision of printed information to families. During we monitored the meetings of the Early Childhood Education lockdown, it was activated as a bi-directional tool, enabling a teachers and their interaction with the families via an app-based permanent means of communication via messages, files, images communication tool. and videos. The research team held three virtual meetings with the teachers (in September and October 2020 and in February 2021), METHOD and one researcher attended the twice-weekly meetings of the Early Childhood Education teaching team during November, Aim December and January. In every case, a field diary was used to The aim of this study was to identify the uses of digital systematically collect information about the school’s relationship communication channels in school-family relationships, with the families. In addition, we had access to the smartphone the opportunities offered and the limitations that may be app, which allowed us to observe and analyze the communication Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 5 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation established between the families of one of the classes, the class TABLE 2 | Content of mobile app messages according to sender/receiver status. tutor (who was also the grade coordinator) and the school. Type Frequency Content Frequency This class was made up of 17 children, corresponding to 15 families (there were two pairs of siblings). Specifically, we General 10 School activity 3 had access to all the group messages (addressed to all the Logistics 3 families in the community or in the class), throughout the term, Health 2 individual messages (i.e., those exchanged between a single family Monthly menu plan 2 and the teacher) and institutional messages (generated by the Group 25 School activity 19 management team) sent in November and December 2020. In Logistics 4 addition, we held two virtual meetings with the grade coordinator Health 1 which helped us understand the school operation. The content of Theory 1 these meetings was included in the field diary, as well. Finally, Individual initiated by the school 9 State of mind 3 we conducted a face-to-face semi-structured interview with the Logistics 3 same coordinator, discussing the limitations and potential of the Health 2 resources for managing relationships with families in the current Thanks 1 situation. This interview was recorded on audio and transcribed Individual initiated by the family 21 Logistics 11 for later analysis. Thanks 5 Health 2 Analysis Home activity 2 The information obtained from interviews, the monitoring of State of mind 1 teachers’ meetings and the messages sent via the app were transcribed and analyzed as textual data. For this purpose, data were categorized into three thematic blocks, all interrelated but focusing on specific areas of interest. For each of these blocks, lockdown began. In the school year 2020–2021, this facility was the research team formulated a series of questions guided by the maintained, although the platform does not allow families to theoretical framework (see Table 1). interact with each other. The mobile app is used for different The researcher who conducted the fieldwork (León-Nabal) types of messages, depending on the sender and to whom it identified each textual quotation categorizing it as a response is addressed: to one of the questions in the table, and this assignment was later reviewed by the other two team members. After discussion, - General messages: Notifications for the entire educational the final category system was agreed upon by consensus. So, the community (such as the school meal menu for the coming category system did not arise from three independent coding in month or news of COVID cases in the school). origin, a limitation according to Anguera et al. (2018), but we - Group messages: Addressed to all the families and teachers of a have prioritized the continuity between fieldwork and analysis, school year, age group or class. At least one is sent every Friday privileging the researcher’s gaze in her interaction with the to report—through a text, images and/or video—the week’s investigated object. activities in class. The school also sends out a “news bulletin” Since not all the citations correspond to the use of the mobile advising families of upcoming important events. application, the object of the study presented here, those that did - Individual messages between a family and the teachers, for refer to this tool were selected, and together they were grouped example, to notify of inability to attend. In addition, every for presentation into three groups: (a) uses and contents of month or two, the teachers send the parents individual or small communication, (b) strategies used and perceived advantages, group photos of their children. and (c) difficulties and challenges encountered. The frequency of each use is detailed in Table 2): RESULTS a) in-school activity (showing families the activities carried out in the classroom and elsewhere in the school, as well as Uses and Contents of Communication messages sharing the school’s weekly music schedule). In the present school year, family-school relationships for b) at-home activity (showing the teacher an activity carried out children in Early Childhood Education (3–6 years) have been in the family context). limited almost entirely to contacts via the smartphone app. c) gratitude (expressing thanks, for work done, photos sent or Beyond this instrument, teachers and families have only met any other detail appreciated). at the school gates, at the beginning or end of the school day d) mood (describing the child’s mood or attitude in a (briefly and with social distancing) and in personal interviews certain situation, for example, if they were crying on being (only face-to-face when strictly necessary). Other resources such left at the school gates, reporting that they have since as telephone calls or e-mail have been used only occasionally. calmed down). Although this app was first used in 2019, the possibility of e) logistics (communicating information related to the timetable bidirectional messages (so that families could also send messages and/or calendar, materials that need to be brought to and interact with their children’s teachers) was not activated until school, personal image rights, confirming an appointment Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 6 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation for a personal interview or reporting the child’s absence teacher sent the parents a message and a photo which showed the from school). child playing after calming down. For instance: f) school meals (informing families of the school’s menu for the next month). “Good morning. ∗∗∗ is fine now and she is playing happily, as you g) health (reporting symptoms, wounds, the presence of lice or can see in this photo. We’ll see you at 12.30.” a positive case of COVID in the school). Attached file: Photo of the child in the classroom. h) theory (sharing information related to developmental and [App_IndividualMessage _11.11.20]. educational theories). Emoticons can also accompany the text. For example: With the app, it is usually the school that initiates conversations with the families (at the general, group or individual level). The “It’s nothing serious, but he’ll come out today with a few scratches” main aim of group messages is to show families what their [App_IndividualMessage _30.11.20] children are doing at school, using text, photos and videos. However, only six of the 15 families in the group have read all Communications via the app always show the students and their these weekly messages, while another five have done so practically classroom activities in a positive light. According to the school’s every time (leaving no more than three messages unread). On the head teacher, in an interview conducted in July 2020, previously other hand, one family did not read any messages until November it had been difficult to find the right moment to let the families and another started in December. There were two more families know about the things that were going well. So, the mobile app who did not read any message at all. However, one of them was may have generated new communication opportunities with the not taking his child to school. This family has recently informed families about the positive aspects of their children’s schooling. the school that he was transferred to another center. Thirdly, teachers have developed strategies responsive to the Regarding messages initiated by the families, 8 out of the diversity of these families. When the educational focus is on 15 families in the class sent messages to the teacher during inclusion, the school must offer different responses according to November and December. In total, the families initiated 21 the needs, potential, interests and characteristics of the children individual conversations with the teacher, although five of these and their families. were in response to a group message with photographs. Most Within the app itself, the teacher uses strategies to of these messages (11 out of the 21) concerned logistical issues contextualize and personalize her messages, thus addressing such as dates, timetabling or absences. In addition, there were the diversity of families. One of these strategies consisted of five messages of gratitude for the images sent by the teacher, translating the messages into Spanish, since the child’s mother two referring to health issues, two showing the teacher the child’s did not understand Catalan. Another strategy was to replace the activities in the family context and one regarding the child’s state weekly group message with an individual message with photos -in of mind when entering school. which the child appeared either alone or in a small group- to each family. This kind of message was sent twice and was answered by Strategies Used and Perceived Advantages five families with a message of thanks. Prior to this innovation, Our analysis of the contents and use of app mobile and of the none of the group messages had received replies. Virtually all regular meetings between teachers, together with the interview the group messages included not only text but also emoticons, with the research coordinator, highlights the advantages of this illustrations and images, and sometimes videos, thus diversifying type of communication, and reveals the strategies developed and the ways in which information was provided. used by the teaching team in their relation with the students’ families, in response to the needs and challenges that have arisen “Our families really like to see photos, which is why in in the present circumstances. all our weekly group messages we send them photos or In the first place, according to the grade coordinator, families videos.“ [Coordinator_Interview_16.12.20]. enjoy greater access to the teachers, who can obtain direct, immediate communication with their child’s tutor, without However, the teachers have had to face another challenge: some intermediaries, albeit restricted to written and virtual formats families do not use the app (they do not read or do not reply (and although other, face-to-face, channels have been lost). to the messages), despite its being one of the most important channels of communication between the school and the families. The teachers have overcome this problem with two of the four “Families know they can write to the teacher whenever they want. families involved by taking advantage of the few moments of It’s me who reads their messages, there are no intermediaries, it’s face-to-face contact (during interviews and at the school gates more direct” [Coordinator_Interview_16.12.20]. during the children’s entry and exit) to demonstrate the app and encourage its use. Secondly, despite the inevitable limitations imposed by the virtual format on the “personal touch,” some strategies can be used to “For example, if a form needs to be signed, the parents do it using foster proximity in the relationship. Dinantia. But we let the families know about this in person, when For example, sometimes children are agitated or crying when the children are coming out of school, and explain how to do it.” they arrive at school; on three occasions when this happened, the [Coordinator_Interview _16.12.20]. Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 7 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation Difficulties and Challenges Encountered “It’s only because I insisted, at the school gates. They told me The current situation, which is both uncertain and complex, about it (for example, the child’s handicraft work) and I said, is posing new challenges to the development of a good Why don’t you send me a photo? I do try to create some understanding between the school and the families, and kind of link, a relationship, but this doesn’t work, either...“ to ensuring continuity between the two main educational [Coordinator_Interview _16.12.20]. contexts—learning and activities—in Early Childhood Education. Although this school has successfully developed The same teacher, when asked why the parents didn’t often send new ways of communicating with the children’s families, there these types of messages, observed: remain areas where further reflection and improvement are “Maybe it’s because they don’t know? Perhaps they think, What can needed. Challenges we have found involve (a) the level of I send the teacher? Maybe they’re just cautious and don’t want to participation and quality of communication, (b) transformation bother us.” [Coordinator_Interview _16.12.20]. of roles played by families and children, and (c) maintenance of personalized relationships. On the other hand, the way teachers use language through The first of these major challenges mainly concerns the the app also influences the role played by the family in this families who do not read the messages sent. As we have shown, interaction, since it may accentuate the asymmetric power two of the 15 families did not read any of these messages. relations between the family and the school. In this sense, we have According to the teacher in question, various explanations might identified situations in which the teacher addresses the family account for their non-involvement. On the one hand, these using a formal, technical register, one that is more typical of the families may lack access to infrastructure or material resources: hegemonic school culture, and which might be difficult for many families to understand: “Perhaps the family’s mobile phone has broken, or they haven’t got one, or now they do, now they don’t, or the number has “The preventive use of insecticide products is not recommended changed” [Coordinator_Interview_16.12.20]. for persons not affected by pediculosis. (. . . ) They are sometimes confused with dandruff and seborrheic scales, but neither of Alternatively, according to the teacher, there may be a lack of these formations is attached to the hair and they are easily interest in school matters: removed. Moreover, dandruff does not produce the pearly shine of nits.” [App_GroupMessage_9.11.20]. “I think the reason why this family doesn’t read the messages is just ”The constructions are not only for play, they also teach that they can’t be bothered, it’s because they think: “If it’s just so us a multitude of mathematical and physical concepts, you can tell me to bring an apron, well, I’m not going to bring it such as geometric shapes, series, sizes, comparisons and anyway.” That’s the attitude of this particular family. (...) Maybe classifications“ [App_GroupMessage_20.11.20]. they would like to have the photos, but they don’t want to do all that’s necessary: put your contact details on their phone, download We have also identified messages in which proposals were the app, all the rest... On the other hand, they do know how to addressed to families about how they should interact with their do tiktoks... I think it’s just they’re not very interested in school children, from a clearly ethnocentric perspective: affairs.” [Coordinator_Interview_16.12.20]. “Now that Christmas is almost here, and we’re all thinking Even so, perhaps we should reflect on whether this lack of about what toys to get our children, we want to help you involvement with the school might have arisen from the wide consider how to enrich their games, with guidelines that will gap that still exists between the school’s and the family’s forms of encourage them to grow, learn and develop without falling into socialization, as has been suggested by Collet-Sabé et al. (2014). the traps of sexist and gender-role stereotypes, and thus promote Finally, the scant involvement of some families in reading the equality.” [App_GroupMessage_22.12.20]. messages and in interacting via the mobile app might be due to a simple lack of digital competence: Such communications were sent to the whole group, in the form of information bulletins, and contrast with the warmth of the “The coordinator told me that some families lack digital skills, personal messages intended to keep the families in touch with and so it’s difficult for them to use the app correctly, even each other. These “cold” uses of language perpetuate asymmetric after it was explained to them and after she went over to show power relationships, thus generating further inequality. them.” [Blanca_FieldNotes_27.11.20]. These considerations lead us to reflect on the roles played by families in determining the use made of the mobile app. In A second challenge is to transform and re-assess the roles played this case, the families were not part of the process; it was school by families and children in this relationship. As we have seen, personnel who decided to introduce the app, and decided how although some families use the app to interact with the teachers, it should be used—initially to replace printed handouts, and this technological resource is not generally used by families to currently as a two-way communicative tool enabling teachers to share their activities, preferences or family understanding with show the families what their children do at school. the school. Moreover, in the only two cases in which families A third challenge presented by the pandemic situation consists have shown the school something about their household, this of constructing emotional ties with families. Although the was, according to the teacher: teachers do their best to maintain close relationships through the Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 8 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation virtual format (as described in the previous section), it can be in line with the hybrid education model (Pardo and Cobo, difficult to maintain affectivity in the relationship when there are 2020), who call for the traditional architectural barriers between no face-to-face encounters: presential and virtual education to be overcome. Digital devices offer great potential for the expression of feelings, which could “This year is different, there’s less bonding, undoubtedly be developed in tools like the app mobile to expand before there was more. We’ve lost this good the range of interactions provided. Nevertheless, it seems that relationship.” [Coordinator_Interview_16.12.20]. the ultimate meaning of these interactions is still constructed “Written messages are very impersonal; a message could be via physical encounters, suggesting we should continue to interpreted in many ways. Moreover, we have families who reinforce the complementarity between digital uses and face- don’t read the messages or who do read them but don’t usually to-face encounters in the construction of relationships, and not reply.” [Coordinator_Interview_16.12.20]. neglect their emotional basis. The most interesting finding in relation to the potential of the Finally, to make changes in the relationship with families, it is new tools is their multimodality. The use of images and videos in necessary to have moments and spaces for evaluation of and the app produces a qualitative change in the messages exchanged reflection on one’s own practice. The practice of the Knowledge between the school and the families, by introducing “fragments Funds project involved dedicating two sessions a month to reflect of life.” Prior to the pandemic, family-school relationships were on relationships with families, which was interrupted by the mediated by the normative use of printed communications and pandemic situation. the punitive one of appointments to resolve conflicts or to “This year we haven’t got anywhere we can consider and discuss shortcomings. With the novel situation and the use of evaluate our relationships with the families. The Funds of the mobile app, this relationship has been transformed into a Knowledge meeting was the only time. Yes, we have the dialogue on everyday experience, with the child as an active evaluation meetings, but then we talk more about the children protagonist. Interestingly, this medium reveals the inadequacy than about their families. Then, if specific problems arise, the of certain formal uses of language that are alien to the families’ matter is presented to Coordination, but these tend to be one-off habitual forms of expression. Multimodality, on the other hand, incidents." [Coordinator_Interview_16.12.20]. seems to be more attuned to everyday discourse, in which words are contextualized by images and activities. The main limitation In their weekly meetings the teaching staff do talk about observed in this respect is that the app is used almost exclusively relationships with families and the use of the app. However, these at the initiative of the school, as the initiator or explicit requestor conversations are spontaneous and refer more to the content of the exchange. of the weekly messages, and do not constitute an intentional, Another important potential of digital platforms is the planned reflection on their own practices, or their beliefs and possibility of increasing the agency of families through the prejudices about the families, the use of digital technology in this creation of shared content. New possibilities have arisen, but to relationship, school ethnocentrism or power relations. date there has been very little development in this area. A virtual space enabling content creation by families would promote the DISCUSSION legitimation of their knowledge, as is intended with the Funds of Knowledge approach (González and Moll, 2002; Hogg, 2011; Our study has afforded us a glimpse at 5 months of use of a Esteban-Guitart et al., 2019), but, as discussed above, agency technological platform in a school belonging to a low-income continues to reside mainly with the school, which still generates social environment, with students belonging to minoritized most digital content and defines the areas in which families may groups, in a context of restrictions produced by the pandemic. contribute. Digital devices, in theory, offer bidirectionality, but in The results allow us to reflect on the potential and limitations practice this potential is largely unseen. In short, if there are few of this type of tool in the development of relationships between opportunities for families to share their socio-cultural practices, school and families. values, forms of relationship or socio-interactive repertoires with First, the results indicate that there is a need for convergence the school, this makes it difficult for the school to identify, value between the use of these devices and face-to-face encounters. and legitimize these factors, incorporating them into classroom During lockdown, the children’s needs for attention and affection life and fostering continuity between the two contexts. Therefore, were the most important factor, and digital support (especially from the outset the families have been mere recipients, and not for families whose situation is precarious) is still inadequate producers or agents of this change, and have had to accept the as a means of mediating relationships with a strong emotional decisions made beforehand by the school. component. This deficiency has led to technologies necessarily The same “recipient” role is apparent in the use and content being complemented by opportunities for face-to-face meeting, of the messages: the families receive the information that the which continues to be the priority for affective communication. teachers send, but in most cases they do not use the app Our results highlight the reality of a convergence between to produce new content and share it with the school. Very face-to-face meetings (even if only fleeting exchanges at the probably, as the coordinator suggests, this is because they are school gates) and the use of the mobile app. This mixed overly prudent and do not believe it appropriate to share their construction of school-family interactions seems to follow the own knowledge and practices. In addition, the fact that families same trend as that of teacher-student educational interactions, can only address the teacher (and not each other) limits the Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 9 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation possible uses of this technology. The logic of mobile apps aimed these activities is what actually regulates the directions taken in at constructing social networks should allow these families to this transformation. conduct group interactions, sharing their knowledge, ideas and Secondly, as we have seen, this digital-driven communication activities, thus helping create a more open, democratic and must become truly bi-directional, to transform it from a medium participatory community. On the other hand, this is a complex by which information flows primarily from the school to the process that poses dilemmas and risks and might generate some families to one in which both directions are active. Meeting apprehension among the teachers. this challenge, however, will require imagination and dialogue. Furthermore, it would be useful to analyze the role played Furthermore, the very architecture of the tool can facilitate or by the children in mediating between the school and family limit the flows. Therefore, we need to consider the possibility contexts via technology, since they are the real protagonists (which has already been accomplished, technologically, in social in this relationship. From the teachers’ observations, and our networks) of achieving horizontal communication between analysis of the messages sent via the app, it seems clear that the families, and thus exploiting the potential offered for concerted, children are being left on the sidelines in this respect. Only when collaborative action. This advance would also give families a voice the parents read the messages together as a family are the children in how technology is used in their relationships with the school. able to mediate in the process, by explaining the photographs Finally, students must become actively involved in family- showing the classroom activities. school mediation. Their appropriation of digital technologies To overcome these limitations, we have the great potential would accompany that of the motives and goals of school of mobile apps fostering participation and the configuration of practice, granting them agency in promoting educational communities of interest (Lacasa, 2020) and affinity spaces (Gee, continuity between these two contexts. 2013). In a context such as that of the school examined in this However, some study limitations should be noted when study, a suitable app could help generalize participation and considering these conclusions. Since it is a case analysis, results enhance the development of community networks with digital describe a contextualized and concrete reality and cannot support. On the other hand, this process might be obstructed be generalized. Besides, data categorization is not objectively by the formal dynamics of the school institution, weighed replicable. Thus, the above proposals should only be considered down by its established, legitimized unidirectionality as a the starting point for future action taking into account the repository of normative knowledge. Moreover, the configuration experience described, our analysis of the situation and the of the digital device as a mechanism that places the school suggestions made for improvement, from our discussions with at the center of attention, connecting it with the families on the teachers involved. This account, therefore, represents the the periphery and excluding any kind of horizontal interaction, conclusion of one stage of the process and, at the same time, impedes the creation of the kind of community found in other an introduction to new spaces for reflection, new challenges social networks. to be addressed and lessons to be learned. With this study, Another potential of the telematic devices is the distribution we hope to have contributed to a greater understanding of of knowledge. This attribute meshes perfectly with one of the the school-family relationship during a period in which social goals of the Funds of Knowledge approach, namely to foster the inequalities have been exacerbated. The pandemic has spurred us construction of a meeting space between the school’s knowledge to re-examine the ways in which schools and families interrelate and that of the families. The mobile app provides an opportunity and communicate, but further research and fresh thinking are to digitally re-create this space, to nourish it with contributions undoubtedly necessary to meet the present and future challenges from the school, to provide a showcase for the children’s to our society. activities, to lend them meaning and to include contributions from the families, thus legitimizing the domestic practices that guide the children’s development. The strategies discussed above reveal potential avenues to explore in this direction, but also DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT highlight the great distance remaining to be covered and the limitations of the digital apps currently available. In our opinion, The original contributions presented in the study are included three important lines need to be developed. in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be Firstly, in line with the Funds of Knowledge study group directed to the corresponding author/s. (Esteban-Guitart et al., 2018), teachers could collectively and critically evaluate the use of the tool within the framework of strategies to develop new forms of school-family relationships. In addition, they should consider issues such as the attitudes ETHICS STATEMENT taken toward families, ethnocentrism, power relations, channels of communication and the uses of technology in this respect. The studies involving human participants were reviewed Indeed, this process is already under way, within the framework and approved by Research Ethics and Biosafety Commitee of the Funds of Knowledge approach (Zhang-Yu et al., in (CEBRUdG) Universitat de Girona. The patients/participants press). The mobile app, as a mediating device, transforms provided their written informed consent to participate in activities, but the conscious definition of the goals motivating this study. Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 10 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400 León-Nabal et al. School-Families Digital Mediation AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS Regional Development Funds (European Union), grant number EDU2017-83363-R. All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS FUNDING This work has been possible thanks to the collaboration of This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Domi Viñas, principal of the El Til·ler elementary and middle Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO), the school, Claudia Barreda, and the entire team of early childhood Spanish State Research Agency (AEI), and the European education teachers. REFERENCES Family–School Partnerships in School Psychology, ed S. A. Garbacz (New York, NY: Routledge). doi: 10.4324/9781138400382-9 Aguilar, M. C., and Leiva, J. L. (2012). La participación de las familias en las escuelas García-Bacete, F. J. (2003). Las relaciones escuela-familia: un reto educativo. tic: análisis y reflexiones educativas. 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Barcelona: GEPS-UAB. absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a Tozer, S. (2000). “Class,” in Knowledge and Power in the Global Economy: Politics potential conflict of interest. and the Rhetoric of School Reform, ed D. A. Gabbard (New Jersey, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate)s. The reviewer VV-H declared a shared affiliation with one of the authors, Trujillo-Sáez, F., Fernández-Navas, M., Montes-Rodríguez, M., BL-N, to the handling editor at time of review. Segura-Robles, A., Alaminos-Romero, F.J., and Postigo-Fuentes, A.Y. (2020). Panorama de la educación en España tras la Copyright © 2021 León-Nabal, Zhang-Yu and Lalueza. This is an open-access article pandemia de COVID-19: la opinión de la comunidad educativa. distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). Madrid: Fad. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the Vázquez, E., López, E., and Colmenares, L. (2014). La dimensión socializadora de original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original la tecnología para una comunidad educativa más abierta y colaborativa. Rev. publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. Tecnol. Inform. Comun. Educ. 8, 145–158. Available online at: http://servicio. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these bc.uc.edu.ve/educacion/eduweb/v8n1/art10.pdf terms. Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 12 June 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 687400