Log in or out of online schooling: the case of Romania

This paper is about access to and participation in education under COVID-19 circumstances, in 2020, for the case of Romania. The study is based on a desk research and a qualitative research. The purpose of conducting the desk research was to better understand the circumstances under which educational activities have been performed in Romania during 2020. The qualitative research was conducted between November and December 2020, with the representatives of disadvantaged educational units from several development regions of Romania. The following research questions guided the study: (i) what are the key factors influencing access and participation in educational activities during the pandemic in Romania? (ii) which are the coping strategies (if any) developed in response to the pandemic constraints? The respondents of the qualitative research are school principals of ten pre-university disadvantaged educational units. The conducted thematic analysis identified six themes, with various subsequent themes in each field. They are grouped as follows: (1) high instability of the educational environment; (2) distance learning without an online component, incorporating a discussion on access to equipment and internet; local administrative capacity; increased educational risks and inequalities and implications for student's assessment; (3) distance learning for children with special educational needs and children with disabilities; (4) coping strategies used in distance learning; (5) parents' participation in distance learning and (6) perceived difficulties and support needed during distance learning. The paper provides implications and future research directions in the last section.