Frohlich Katherine L, Thompson Jennifer A, Fraser Sarah L, Dupéré Véronique, Beauregard Nancy
École de santé publique, Université de Montréal (ESPUM), Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Centre de recherche en santé publique (CReSP), Université de Montréal et CIUSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Can J Public Health. 2022 Dec;113(6):795-805. doi: 10.17269/s41997-022-00703-y. Epub 2022 Sep 30.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been an extraordinary moment of uncertainty and rapid transformation. The effects lockdowns had on youths' mental and physical health, as well as the challenges they posed for young peoples' learning, were of great concern. It quickly became clear that government responses to COVID-19, in particular regarding the social determinants of health, were not equally experienced across all social groups. This paper adopts an interdisciplinary lens at the intersection of health and education and uses Max Weber's lifestyle theory to analyze the inequitable experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine most directly social inequities in education during the first wave of COVID-19 and explore long-term effects on youths' educational opportunities, health, and well-being.
We use focus group materials collected from our Spring 2020 study. This study explored how youth were differentially experiencing the pandemic. Participants included 18 youth between the ages of 13 and 18 (11 girls, 7 boys). Participants were stratified by private and public secondary schools and we ran focus groups in which experiences of the pandemic were discussed.
Our results show (1) clear differences in early access to education for youth who attended public and private institutions in Quebec during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) access to the internet and computers offset learning opportunities for students across Quebec throughout the COVID-19 pandemic; and (3) few of the differences experienced during the pandemic were based on youth's behaviours, or life choices, but rather stemmed from differences in material and structural opportunities, based largely, but not solely, on what type of school the youth attended (public or private).
The way in which the COVID-19 pandemic was handled by the Quebec education system deepened existing social inequities in education between private and public school attendees. Given the importance of education as one of the main determinants of health, particularly during transition periods such as adolescence, we must ensure that future policies do not repeat past mistakes.
新冠疫情是一个充满不确定性和快速变革的特殊时期。封锁措施对青少年身心健康的影响以及给他们的学习带来的挑战，引发了人们的高度关注。很快就清楚地看到，政府应对新冠疫情的措施，尤其是在健康的社会决定因素方面，在所有社会群体中并未得到平等的体验。本文采用健康与教育交叉领域的跨学科视角，运用马克斯·韦伯的生活方式理论来分析新冠疫情的不平等体验。我们最直接地审视了新冠疫情第一波期间教育领域的社会不平等现象，并探讨其对青少年教育机会、健康和福祉的长期影响。
我们使用了从2020年春季研究中收集的焦点小组材料。该研究探讨了青少年如何不同地体验疫情。参与者包括18名年龄在13至18岁之间的青少年（11名女孩，7名男孩）。参与者按私立和公立中学进行分层，我们组织了焦点小组讨论疫情经历。
我们的结果表明：（1）在新冠疫情期间，魁北克省公立和私立学校的青少年在早期获得教育方面存在明显差异；（2）在整个新冠疫情期间，互联网和电脑的接入弥补了魁北克省学生的学习机会；（3）疫情期间所经历的差异很少基于青少年的行为或生活选择，而是源于物质和结构机会的差异，这在很大程度上（但并非完全）取决于青少年就读的学校类型（公立或私立）。
魁北克教育系统应对新冠疫情的方式加深了私立和公立学校学生之间现有的教育社会不平等。鉴于教育作为健康的主要决定因素之一的重要性，尤其是在青春期等过渡时期，我们必须确保未来的政策不会重蹈覆辙。
