Alejandro Vargas Serrano

Educational neuroscience has established itself over the last few decades as an interdisciplinary field capable of bridging the gap between research on brain function and teaching and learning processes

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that practically all Spanish educational centers have had to adapt the teaching they provide. The case of the musical field in general and that of instrumental practice in particular has had to organize an effective educational response with which to ensure the well-being and learning of students. That is why we have carried out a systematic review based on research questions and a main objective related to the strategies that conservatories and general education centers have adopted in the musical field. Initially we selected a series of databases of recognized international and Hispanic prestige in which to carry out searches with the defined key terms. The different phases of study of the documents were limited by the inclusion criteria and the search formulas, giving rise to the final selection once those documents that appeared duplicates in the databases had been eliminated. The results show how the main strategies in the primary stages are related to collaborative and cooperative work, even in the phase of suppression of educational attendance. In addition, in music conservatories, group instrumental practice has had certain peculiarities during the different phases of the pandemic, with the main strategy carried out by teachers being teacher coordination.

(1) Background: A variety of social and economic changes are happening worldwide due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, which has produced new problems and challenges for the population as a whole. These events demand new investigations and key studies for their management. This review addresses the repercussions of COVID-19 at the educational level in the primary education stage, delving into the effects produced in teaching and different aspects related to it, such as the situation and challenges of teachers, family involvement, and the perceptions and repercussions of the learning and socio-educational development of students (especially in the case of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder). (2) Methods: The methodological design is a systematic review study, following the PRISMA guidelines, from a search carried out during the month of July 2021 in the Scopus, Dialnet, and WoS databases on the object of study. (3) Results: The selected studies were analyzed through a qualitative content analysis based on a population of 103 articles, with a final sample of 13, using the inclusion criteria: empirical studies or research in English or Spanish; free access through the Internet; categories restricted to “education/educational research” related to the proposed objectives; specific documents of the primary education stage and/or students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. (4) Conclusions: The research reveals the presence of an existing digital gap in certain sectors of the student population aggravated by the pandemic, as well as the scarcity of general teacher training in this type of situation, leading to different personal and professional problems that hinder teaching and emphasize the vulnerability of the right to education, which leads to further promoting the already existing social inequalities.