The project Co-directors, Drs Lauren Rea, Noelia Enriz, Ana Carolina Hecht, Pía Leavy, Mariana García Palacios and Andrea Szulc will be supported by postdoctoral researcher Celeste Hernández and a wider collaborative team. The Argentine co-directors are based at CONICET, Argentina’s National Council of Scientific and Technical Research.
Diverse Childhood and Educational Inequalities in Argentina will investigate the consequences of the pandemic on access to education, attainment gap and family economies in five diverse regions of Argentina. The project brings together six Argentine researchers specialising in anthropology of childhood and education, working alongside Lauren Rea who applies a socio-cultural historical framework to investigate children’s consumption of print and digital educational materials. Uneven provision of school resources and support has highlighted some areas’ lack of internet and access to devices, coupled with the inadequacies of provision and quality of existing printed educational material. Through virtual and in-person fieldwork evaluating the consequences of the pandemic, the project will generate reports for educational authorities and government ministries, and a pilot of classroom and teacher training materials in childhood diversity. The project aims to ensure that the existing structural inequalities and the diversity of lived childhood experience, often overlooked by educational authorities and the wider society, are at the forefront of the post-pandemic response.
On Wednesday 2nd June at 4pm, project co-directors Mariana García Palacios and Lauren Rea will be giving a research seminar on the project as part of a series of activities for Dr García Palacios’ virtual visit to Sheffield as Erasmus MUNDUS Visiting Scholar.