Journal of Medical and Clinical Nursing Studies

Inclusion: How to Rescue the Literacy Process in Students After the Pandemic Period

Tricia Bogossian

Specialist in Adult Intensive Care Nursing and Neonatal Nursing by UERJ and Occupational Nursing (UFRJ), Santa Ursula University in Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil

Corresponding author
Tricia Bogossian, Specialist in Adult Intensive Care Nursing and Neonatal Nursing by UERJ and Occupational Nursing (UFRJ), Santa Ursula University in Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil.

ABSTRACT
The objective of the work was to study the alternatives that can be adopted in order to rescue the literacy process in students after the pandemic period. The pandemic caused by the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) caused the closure of schools in several countries, which affected hundreds of millions of students. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the closure of schools in Brazil began in mid-March 2020 and lasted until the beginning of 2022, being considered a crucial step to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus, influencing the education of students and their families as well as teachers. Bibliographical research was used as methodology, which was carried out from materials already published in scientific articles and internet sites. It was concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic brought great challenges to education around the world, and the literacy process of students was one of the most affected. However, it is possible to rescue this process through inclusive and individualized measures that take into account the needs and abilities of each student.

Keywords: Inclusion, Pandemic, Literacy

Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an emergency shift from traditional teaching to emergency remote teaching. The circumstances in which these transformations took place are unpredictable and unusual for teachers, students and parents, unlike a well-planned online learning experience such as distance education.

A well-planned online learning experience is a complex process where careful instructional design and development is required to create an effective learning environment. The teaching process became a reality with the COVID-19 pandemic and can be considered a new reality for students, parents, teachers and other education professionals. For this reason, it is understandable and predictable that there are failures and deficiencies throughout this process.

One of the main problems that students in the literacy phase have experienced is the communication problem caused by not being able to share the same physical and virtual environment with their peers and teachers. Many do not even have regular internet access in their homes. Teachers, on the other hand, had to adapt very quickly to the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) without undergoing any training. So, the potential of remote teaching is not being fully exploited.

Online learning carries the stigma of being of lower quality than face-to-face learning, but in fact, you can derive the same or even greater benefit from this mode of teaching than face-to-face learning. What happened is that the transition to remote teaching under these very unexpected circumstances did not allow planning to be carried out so that it was possible to take full advantage of the advantages and possibilities of the online format.

From the above, although the classes are already being taught in face-to-face format, what is observed is that the moment inspires concern and brings challenges. However, the difficulties faced today, if well handled, will result in gains in the future, when it is expected that, if it becomes necessary to return to Distance Education (EAD), teachers and the pedagogical team will already be prepared to, worth using active methodologies, contribute to the literacy of these children.

Education professionals and policy makers are expected to learn from this new reality and when the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the education system must not forget the experiences gained during emergency remote teaching. It is likely that similar circumstances will arise, perhaps other pandemics or emergency situations in the future and it is hoped that if school closures are necessary again, the adoption of remote teaching will be less traumatic and more fruitful.

The pandemic caused by the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) caused the closure of schools in several countries, which affected hundreds of millions of students. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the closure of schools in Brazil began in mid-March 2020 and lasted until the beginning of 2022, being considered a crucial step to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus, influencing the education of students and their families. families as well as teachers.

With the closure of schools, classes at all levels of training, including for students in the literacy phase, moved from the traditional environment to remote teaching. Schools and teachers scrambled to deliver classes online through the World Wide Web or TV shows. In a situation where classes started to be taught completely online, the teaching and learning environment and educational interactions changed, including knowledge construction and socialization.

The study is relevant in the sense of demonstrating that emergency remote teaching demanded circumstances different from the usual conditions, since schools, students and teachers were not prepared in terms of technical infrastructure, professional development and skill set. This lack of preparation is the main difficulty in remote literacy training carried out during the pandemic, which caused a large number of students in the literacy phase to manifest a learning deficit related to literacy.

Currently, classes have already started to be taught in person, but with this return and, consequently, with direct contact between teachers and students, teachers realized that the quality of learning of these children in the literacy phase was deficient, which has making it necessary to search for programs, such as PEA, with the purpose of recovering those students whose performance is below expectations.

The guiding problem of this research was: How to rescue the literacy process in students after a pandemic period?

The general objective was to study the alternatives that can be adopted in order to rescue the literacy process in students after the pandemic period. The specific objectives were: Explain how remote teaching took place during the pandemic, differentiating distance learning from hybrid teaching; Expose the main difficulties manifested by students in the literacy phase with regard to distance learning; Search for effective ways to recover students with learning difficulties in literacy.

Bibliographical research was used as a methodology, based on materials already published in scientific articles and internet sites.

Theoretical Framework
Learning is of fundamental importance for human life. For Piletti learning is a complex phenomenon that is not restricted to the process of acquiring knowledge and information [1]. Information is important, however, it needs to go through a very complex processing, so that it becomes meaningful for human life.

According to Schirmer, Fontoura and Nunes learning is the construction of action; it is the awareness of the coordination of actions [2]. In this way, the student will build his knowledge through a personal history already trodden, having a structure, based on the previous conditions of the entire learning process, in addition to being placed in contact with the content necessary for his learning.
Additionally, the aforementioned authors explain that the specific learning of reading and writing is related to a set of factors that demand the adoption of principles related to the mastery of language and the capacity for symbolization, and the internal and external conditions that are important to the development of language must be present. child [2].

Learning difficulties characterize a picture of school failure that accompanies several causal factors and, day after day, they gain more space for research and intervention in the areas of education and health. It is possible to consider them as a public health problem, as their interference goes beyond the walls of schools and appears in society through illiteracy rates and citizens with low education [3].

The conditions for school success or failure involve much more complex phenomena than the simple way or methodology that the teacher applies to teach or the cognitive conditions inherent to the individual to learn. Based on this premise, it can be assumed that the student’s intellectual capacity cannot be considered as the only factor for understanding the causes of success or failure at school and that attitudes such as changing schools and, consequently, changes in the way of teaching may not guarantee the child’s learning [3].

In a normal situation, online education creates the flexibility to learn and teach anytime, anywhere. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an emergency transition from traditional to remote teaching at all levels of education, termed by Hodges et al. of emergency remote teaching [4].

Emergency remote teaching was implemented in response to the pandemic. The situation differs from Distance Education in that the teaching method is well planned for online learning to take place, since remote teaching was not foreseen for teachers, students and parents, constituting an unprecedented emergency situation. For the first time worldwide, all students were required to watch all of their classes online and all teachers were required to teach in the same way. However, well-planned online learning is a complex process where careful instructional design and development is required to create an effective learning environment. Emergency remote teaching is a temporary teaching solution to an emerging problem and, for this reason, unusual demands and difficulties happen [5].

Under these circumstances, as Hodges et al. [4]:
The primary goal is not to recreate a robust educational ecosystem, but rather to provide temporary access to instruction and educational support in a way that is quick to set up and reliably available during an emergency or crisis [4].

Thus, courses that are taught in this type of situation should not be considered as long-term solutions, as emergency distance learning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has created an obligation for students, while well-planned distance learning creates a flexible and alternative learning environment [6].

The change from the concept of online learning to emergency remote teaching has brought new challenges and opportunities at a social and technological level, which has had impacts on student learning, physical and mental health, in addition to changing teacher-student interactivity, which for students in the literacy stage resulted in worrying learning deficits, deficits that were cumulative in the almost two years in which the students followed the classes online.

For all students to benefit from online learning, it is important to ensure equity among students [7]. In addition, being isolated at home can worsen the fears that plague students regarding this pandemic of global dimensions.

Therefore, responding to students’ emotional issues is particularly important during these stressful times, and some of the effective strategies that teachers and educators can use to alleviate student fear and anxiety include checking in with students regularly, particularly those who are less familiar with using of technology like younger children, including children in the literacy process [8].

Checking students’ feelings is believed to have a profound effect on their learning. Furthermore, providing a learning environment centered on the student being literate is also necessary in times of a pandemic. Teachers were encouraged to use a student-centered approach to encourage them to share ideas with other children in their class in online forums, as well as to work with peers and help them at critical points to continue with their online learning [9].

This approach to education shifts students’ roles from passive recipients of information to active participants in a process that emphasizes discovery and experience.

Most importantly, there is a need to explore whether online pedagogies meet students’ interests and enable the high levels of engagement and outcomes that teachers want to achieve. Although there are several software modalities, applications and active pedagogies that can be worked online, Biesta expressed concern about questions about whether the crisis questioning whether a complete return to traditional forms of teaching will be possible or whether new forms of teaching will be possible [10]. teaching and practice can be more effectively intertwined from here on out.

It is known that ensuring equity is a major challenge for online education. Remote teaching presents some challenges for teachers and students. Requires access to digital technology such as a computer and a stable, reliable Internet connection.

Not all students have computers and other students may have to share computers with other family members, which can negatively impact their online learning. Furthermore, many students and teachers come from low-income families. These students face challenges, mainly with Internet connectivity [11].

To overcome this challenge, it would be important for governments to invest in public policies that provide computers and WiFi access point devices to students during the isolation period, and this is still a challenge in Brazil, considering that Brazil is a populous country. and which is currently facing a worrying political and economic crisis, aggravated by the health crisis.

Furthermore, increased internet access alone cannot guarantee that equitable services are provided to all students. For online education to be effective, Morgan suggested that schools need to find ways to communicate their expectations clearly to all parties involved in implementing remote learning (e.g., teachers, technology services staff, and the students themselves) [9].

The pandemic brought new logistics to the teaching environment, adherence to remote classes to circumvent the impossibilities of physical interaction between those involved in education, and especially, teachers and students. It is believed that by making use of ludic activities, sending materials to be read and exercised at home, printed or recorded on CDs, or even videos, teachers can transform difficulties into possibilities, but there is still a way and a distance that prevents the education reaches all students [12].

Large-scale adaptations will certainly be necessary from now on, and not only students will suffer the impacts of these changes. Teachers also face difficulties in teaching these students and need support as will be discussed below.

It can be considered that the coronavirus pandemic caused profound impacts within the social environment and its routines, with emphasis mainly on education. According to Grossi, Minoda and Fonseca due to the security measures adopted by government officials, schools together with teaching professionals needed to align teaching methodologies and promote some adjustments regarding routines, financial part and workload applied in the school environment [12].

In Brazil, the pandemic context reveals the reality of problems of social inequality and disinvestment in public education, highlighting the social gap between public and private schools and, at the same time, explaining the differences between levels of schooling in terms of the profile and conditions of the community. teacher and student.

This condition, as Penteado and Costa expose, makes visible the various difficulties that most students and teachers in the country face [13]. Problems include restricted internet access; non-existent or obsolete technologies (such as computers, tablets, cell phones, televisions); lack of adequate space to study and work from home; the fragility of teacher training and the lack of preparation to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). In addition, there is overload, anxiety, boredom, exhaustion and compromised mental health not only for students and their families, but also for teachers.

According to Barron et al. the changes in the pandemic period are mainly due to two factors: first, the pedagogical adaptations that have already proven to be essential in remote learning environments are cited [14]. No matter the type of channel that will be adopted (radio, TV, cell phone, online platforms, among others), teachers need to adapt their practices and be creative to keep students involved, as each family has become a classroom - in most cases - without an environment that supports learning. Second, the pandemic has changed the way teachers divide their time between teaching, student engagement, and administrative tasks.

In Brazil, according to a survey carried out by Instituto Península 83% of teachers did not consider themselves prepared to teach remotely, 67% were anxious, 38% tired and less than 10% were happy or satisfied [15]. The pandemic has highlighted the need for flexibility and more time for student-teacher interactions.

In the view of Presse one of the bases most changed during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic with teaching professionals and organizations is the teaching methodology adopted, since both teachers and school institutions needed to verify the best way to provide students with the necessary education [16].

According to Queiroz the use of remote teaching, in some situations, was very positive in terms of allowing students to have access to education even in times of a pandemic, a period in which, as is known, social isolation is the only way people have to avoid contamination since vaccination only started to be provided in the second half of 2021 and reached only some age groups and professional categories [17].

Still with regard to the impacts caused by the pandemic on education in the country and in the world, Sobrinho Jr. and Moraes highlight the need for teachers to understand and use digital resources [18]. There is a large number of professionals who do not master ICTs and are having to learn how to make explanatory videos, as well as how to use electronic platforms to present their contents, something that some had never experienced before and that they now do with difficulty or, in some cases, they don’t. In this path and considering that knowledge about the use of applications, platforms and other devices aimed at remote teaching and learning is not known by most education professionals, it is important, therefore, that these professionals have access to Specialization.

For this reason, it is important to think about public policies that train teachers for remote teaching, in addition to others that enable the digital inclusion of students, so that education fulfills its role of making access to citizenship possible and does not become tool to promote inequalities [19].

Regarding the literacy process, there are countless ways of using language in its broad context, in its particularities, since for about 30 years there has been a perceptible acceleration in relation to technological changes, so that computer equipment and technology of information conquered their own universe in constant changes [20].

The technological moment is entirely connected with what has been experienced recently and is still being experienced, even if more slowly. The interaction of digital media promotes transformations both in the professional and academic environment, emphasizing the era of the digital society. The change to the digital age comprises a phenomenon that goes beyond the technological sphere, where everyone has the right to the functions and properties of the virtual environment in distance learning. In this sense, distance learning, if well planned, in addition to being a benefit to society as a whole, is a determining factor in facing the transition of Communication Sciences [21].

Equally important, in the teaching of Barron et al. is to free teachers from administrative tasks, focus on what is pedagogically effective and provide necessary socio-emotional support to teachers [14]. The pandemic and the prolonged closure of schools changed the roles of teachers and most of them were not prepared for a change of such magnitude. It is necessary to adopt a comprehensive strategy of training, socio-emotional assessment and psychosocial support to ensure the well-being of the teacher and, consequently, teaching with the highest possible quality within the pandemic context.

There is no denying that, despite being momentary, the use of ICTs and remote classroom processes provided a cluster of tools that are fundamental for the innovation of teachers’ practices. In this way, with the return of face-to-face classes, professionals will still have to remain using, in face-to-face movement, technological instruments. In addition, the margin of tools and innovation that was presented to teachers in an imposed manner, must become a movement that must remain in adherence even after the return of face-to-face classes [22,23].

Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic brought great challenges to education around the world and the literacy process of students was one of the most affected. However, it is possible to rescue this process through inclusive and individualized measures that take into account the needs and abilities of each student.

The assessment of students’ needs, the individualized approach, the use of educational technologies, the involvement of parents in the process and the offering of emotional support are some of the measures that can be adopted to guarantee the success of students’ literacy.

The partnership between the school, the family and the community is essential to overcome challenges and ensure that students develop the necessary skills for academic and professional life. With the implementation of these measures, it is possible to rescue the students’ literacy process and prepare them for a promising future.

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