WHAT IS HOSPITAL PEDAGOGY? - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The hospital pedagogy has compensatory function; offers the training and help that the child cannot receive, for medical reasons, at school together with all her classmates.

Therefore, it is the teachers in charge of hospital classrooms who, adapting to the individual needs of each child, using methodologies and infrastructures different from those of a regular classroom in a public or private center, are those who teach in hospitals.

These are the ones that give the children who are hospitalized the possibility to continue learning, so that their incorporation to school and to the routine, after their recovery, is as positive, pleasant and quick as possible.

In this article we will define what are “hospital classrooms”, what is the role of their teachers, how is their operation today and what is the use of ICT within hospital pedagogy.

What are the hospital pedagogy classrooms?

Hospital classrooms are the school units located in hospitals. These have the function of attending to the educational needs of hospitalized children who are covered by the Law on the social integration of the handicapped.

The function of these classrooms is to attend and support, from the educational sphere, the children who are admitted to the hospital for a certain time. This income may be due to various diseases such as, for example: psychological disorders, broken bones, various operations, among others.

We can characterize these classrooms as pleasant places that have open, happy and flexible infrastructures to meet the needs of all children, in addition to being in a quiet, pleasant and stable environment.

However, as in any educational process, hospital classrooms also propose priority objectives that they must achieve during their performance. Some of them are, for example, the following:

• Propose activities according to the circumstances and needs of the child.
• Integrate the child in the educational level to which it corresponds.
• Maintain direct contact with the center from which the student comes.

In short, the function of a hospital classroom is to avoid the negative consequences that the child's stay in hospital can generate.

Therefore, from the literature, it is pointed out that from the psychological perspective the function of hospital classrooms is to psychologically support the physical recovery of children, showing, for this, a therapeutic vision, since the child can become sociable, among many other benefits.

What do teachers do in hospital classrooms?

Teachers who teach in hospital classrooms are characterized as sensitive and warm people who perform their function in these contexts. Its main role is to meet the needs shown by children.

These needs can begin at the same moment that the influence of the illness itself affects the child's mood, causing anxiety, demotivation and boredom, among others.

In addition, it must promote an ideal climate where the exchange of experiences between the children who frequent the classroom takes place. In this way, you will make your stay pleasant moments, avoiding the possibility of missing the presence of some people belonging to your closest context, such as your parents.

For this reason, the teacher has the task of establishing a positive relationship with the family, where good communication is given, which is continuous and permanent, since the family must report the child's level and obtain information about the child's evolution.

How is the methodology of work?

The work methodologies in hospital classrooms are different from those that are usually used in any ordinary classroom. However, something essential is that, at all times, you must have the physical conditions of the students.

Your health is essential, because if you are well you can travel to the place, learn and have fun. On the contrary, it would be necessary to adapt to another work methodology so that the teacher can move the child's training to the room in which he is admitted.

Flexible and individualized

First of all, we must point out that the methodology must be flexible and individualized, starting from the interests and knowledge of the child. Taking into account the physical situation of the child, as we have mentioned previously, one methodology or another will be carried out.

Group activities

Second, the methodology includes group activities, in most cases, however, it can be worked individually, taking into account the characteristics of the child in question, since there are diseases that must keep the little one isolated.

Calendar

Third, the timing of activities is subject to the regular school calendar and the reality of the hospital is adapted.

Material resources

Fourth, the material resources used are also the same as those used in school. These are, for example, tables, chairs and blackboards, among others.

initial evaluation

Finally, in fifth place, the evaluation must begin before carrying out the educational intervention. The child should be given an initial evaluation to know the level from which it starts and how we should act to offer help.

However, this will not be the only evaluation that will be carried out since a continuous evaluation will be carried out during the process that will take into account the results that the child is obtaining.

It will be observational in nature, since the work that the child is doing will be evaluated. And, also, an evaluation of the program will be carried out to propose improvements, taking into account the benefits that it has brought to the child and the difficulties that implanting it has entailed.

The current situation of hospital classrooms

Currently, hospital classrooms, which emerged to alleviate the needs posed by society at a time when children were hospitalized for a long time, are essential places in the infrastructures of a hospital.

For this reason, there are numerous hospital classrooms that are distributed throughout Spanish hospitals, and each one works in a different way. However, the objectives and the work methodology are usually similar, since at the beginning of the course the entire teaching team must meet to establish the objectives that will be pursued during the course.

The possibility of carrying out a good project for children who are hospitalized encompasses other factors, which we have discussed previously, the family and the state of health in which they are. These factors influence the recovery of the child and, in turn, also have an impact on the possibility of the child attending the hospital classroom with a positive or negative attitude.

Parents can influence the children's mood and, in the same way, encourage their participation in the game and in the proposed activities to continue learning outside of the routine classrooms.

However, there are situations in which parents have a negative influence, since overprotection can play an important role creating the rejection of the child to these places, since they feel helpless.

At present, the groups that hospital classrooms serve are children:

• Short hospitalization: Stay of less than fifteen days.
• Average stay: Between fifteen days and one month.
• Long hospitalization: More than a month.
• Cared for during the day.
• In room.

Therefore, attending to these groups, we must point out that the educational project carried out in the child's center should be carried out. Therefore, the teacher of the hospital classroom must maintain that contact that is required with the school from which the child comes.

Through tools such as ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) they continually receive timely information to support the child. And it is in this exchange of information where the work of parents should be given to increase this contact and support it.

The use of ICT in hospital classrooms

Using this tool, as a resource, implies eliminating the barriers faced by hospitalized children who cannot go to the hospital classroom of their own free will.

The use of ICT implies opening the possibilities towards three relevant factors: the academic-formative, the psychosocial and communication. Using new technologies through computer resources such as computers and tablets imply the possibility of normalization in the lives of children.

Bibliography

1. PRENDES ESPINOSA, MP, SÁNCHEZ VERA, MM AND SERRANO SÁNCHEZ, JL (2012). Educational possibilities of ICT in hospital classrooms. Journal for Educators, Teachers and Trainers, Vol. 3, 37-48.
2. REQUENA, MD AND SAINZ DE VICUÑA, P. (2010). Didactics of Early Childhood Education. Editex: Madrid.
3. SERRANO SÁNCHEZ, JL AND PRENDES ESPINOSA, MP (2015). ICT integration in hospital classrooms as resources for the improvement of educational processes. Studies on education, Vol. 28, 187-2010.