This paper investigates the experiences students and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in non-privileged areas of Canada and Germany. While the group of students, who experienced the pandemic during their transition from childhood to young adolescent, which is a vulnerable phase, their teachers were confronted with students with these ‘new experiences’ and not able to rely on their teaching and schooling routines and cultures to deal with these. In the project “Impediments and enablers to schooling of non-/privileged students during the COVID-19 pandemic – a comparison between Canada and Germany”, funded by the German government, we compare how students from non-/privileged milieus experienced school and out-of-school (including family) life during the different phases of the pandemic, as well as the school and classroom ways of dealing with them. Additionally their teachers’ experiences and their efforts to reach and accommodate their students will be investigated in. The context of schooling differs between Germany and Canada – not only during the pandemic (for example Sturm 2019). While Germany has tracked school systems, that distinguish vocational and academic tracks, Canadas provinces have only one track. The pandemic context also differs, since schools in Germany were closed for almost a year while Canadian schools only closed for two months. In the paper two comparisons will be focused: the experiences of non-privileged students on schooling who live in Canada and Germany and the students’ experiences in relation to the one of their teachers. This will be done based on group interviews that were conducted with four students in their schools and interviews with their teachers. The comparison shows that non-privileged students from Germany were experiencing exclusion from educational resources much more than their peers in Canada. They were not included in day-to-day options in remote exchange with teachers and peers, due to the lack of devices and internet access. In contrast to their Canadian peers the German students were offered less support, like reducing academic expectations and offering personal support in working on tasks. The Canadian teachers were provided with digital technology to stay in touch with their students, while this was not provided in all school settings in Germany. Where it was not provided, teachers had a hard time to stay in touch with their students.

Sturm, T. (2019). Constructing and addressing differences in inclusive schooling–comparing cases from Germany, Norway and the United States. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23(6), 656-669.