Homebound Education in Italy is based on one-to-one teaching conducted by teachers who visit the sick student at home. This modality does not include interactions between homebound students and classmates, thus inhibiting the educational aspect of peer relationships. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent dispositions of the Ministry of Education regarding remote education and integrated digital didactic (DID), new opportunities became available for homebound students. In this research, we applied and tested in the context of homebound education a model of hybrid inclusive classroom developed in a previous project ((TRIS), addressing homebound students that could not permanently attend school and followed lessons remotely. The present study involved two homebound students affected by chronic and acute diseases. During the 2020/21 school year, the model was proposed to the two school councils (22 teachers in all) and the trial monitored; at the end of the school year, semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and transcriptions analyzed using a deductive approach based on the model. Results confirm some findings of the TRIS project, while new aspects emerged linked to the specific context. Overall, the implemented hybrid classroom seems to have positively affected both the learnings and students’ inclusion.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant long-term impact on education worldwide. In many countries, schools and universities experienced a rapid switch to emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL), which affected many education systems in the 2020–21 school year. This was true for the Italian educational context as a whole, including School in Hospital (SiHo) services. This study explored how the SiHo functioned in Italy during the 2020–2021 school year. The aim was to explore what, if any, changes the emergency brought about in educational practices and in the adoption of technologies in this specific context, with a particular focus on any differences between school levels. The study was conducted with 252 SiHo teachers using a questionnaire format. The results showed that after the forced adoption of distance modes during the spring 2020, face-to-face teaching returned to be the prevalent mode in the 2020–2021 school year, with some exceptions for upper-secondary school students (covered by ministerial provisions). The teaching approach that SiHO teachers prefer, both for face-to-face and distance lessons, remains frontal instruction, probably given the particular needs of their students. Younger students probably experienced the most significant changes due to the limits imposed on interpersonal contact in hospitals, which prevented group work and play, previously commonly adopted by kindergarten and primary school teachers. In terms of technology integration in educational practice, teachers stated that they had acquired greater competence in the use of a variety of technological resources.

Objectives. As a pilot study, this research investigates families’ perceptions of Homebound Education (HE) and its role in supporting their children in a Northern Italian region. HE allows students unable to attend school due to health conditions to continue their studies at home, with teachers providing instruction in the home environment. Families are often required to adapt their living spaces and routines to support the presence of teachers in the home. Material and methods. A 36-item questionnaire, divided into four sections, was administered to families. It collected socio-demographic data, the educational management of the HE paths, parental perceptions, and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the service. Qualitative responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results. Nineteen families participated. Results indicate that HE negatively impacted household organization, particularly in space sharing (10 of 19) and work-life balance (13 of 19). Despite these challenges, families rated the service highly for its effectiveness and value (M = 4.7). They felt that teachers were concerned about the health of children or youth (M = 4.6), although they noted limited involvement in monitoring educational progress (M = 3.9). Critical issues included delays in service activation, insufficient feedback from families, and weakened peer relationships between students and their peers. Positive aspects are centered on the continuity of education and strong teacher support. Conclusion. Overall, the findings underscore the central role families play in HE and highlight areas for improvement, particularly in communication and organizational efficiency, to better support both students and their caregivers. Keywords: Homebound Education; Family; Teachers; Children and youth with medical needs

The paper explores health professionals’ (HPs) perceptions of the Hospital School (HS) service, focusing on its role within the care process and on interprofessional implications. The importance of HS in ensuring educational continuity for hospitalized children is widely recognised, however, studies show that teachers sometimes feel their role is not acknowledged by HPs and that the quality of interprofessional interactions strongly affects teachers’ work and well-being. Using a qualitative approach, individual interviews followed by a focus group, this study investigated HPs’ point of view by asking them about 1) their perception of the HS service and teachers, 2) their interactions with HS teachers, and 3) how their collaboration might be supported. Results indicate that the role of HS is perceived in a variety of manners, and relationships with teachers are often driven by individual rather than organizational-mediated practices. Solutions proposed to better integrate HS within the hospital and strengthen collaboration between teachers and healthcare professionals highlight the need for both institutions to actively promote structured opportunities for reciprocal knowledge building, and to introduce coordinating figures that connect teachers with each other and with healthcare staff. HPs’ responses in this study reflect challenges reported in the literature regarding inter-professional collaboration among HPs and suggest that some of the strategies developed to improve collaboration within healthcare teams could be adapted to strengthen cooperation between HPs and HS teachers.