COVID-19: What Have We Learned From Italy’s Education System Lockdown?

In what can only be described as one of the most unanticipated catastrophes to sweep through the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought nations to a standstill; none quite the same way as Italy, the world’s first nation to succumb to the deadly virus outside China. Amidst the unfolding crisis, Italy’s Ministry of Education immediately set up a taskforce to determine how it’s 12 million students could continue to have access to education as the nation was forced into lockdown. Informed by the preliminary findings of two research projects across all levels of education, this paper documents the educational response that transformed Italy’s education system as the nation quickly shifted to emergency remote teaching. The findings highlight the adjustments made at the time, the inequity experienced, and the complex contextual considerations that must be considered as the nation launches into a new scholastic year faced with the reality of coexisting with the virus.