Equal access
Can technology help level the playing field for education ?
By Christopher Thomas
By committing to the Sustainable Development Goals , countries around the world pledged to provide “ equitable , quality education for all ”.
Access to education has indeed expanded quickly . Globally , enrolment in primary education is near universal and the gross enrolment rate in secondary education increased from 51 per cent in 1990 to 76 per cent in 2016 .
Expansion of education systems has been especially rapid in lower income countries , where a large majority of young people in the world live .
Historically , expanding education has generally resulted in less education inequality , at least as measured by years of schooling . But major reports from the OECD , World Bank and UNESCO all point to substantial differences in learning achievement between and within countries .
Too many students lack the advantages afforded by a rich and supportive learning environment . While we are getting closer to meeting the goal of enrolling all children in school , equity and quality appear to be elusive .
Students and educators are turning to EdTech for solutions , and it is providing
interesting new options . EdTech innovators are creating new ways to coach teachers , tutor students , and expand online learning offerings . It ’ s even becoming possible to imagine an entirely new model of teaching and learning , where young people collaborate online , across borders , and accumulate verifiable credentials stored in a blockchain .
The promise of EdTech seems real , especially as most countries have seen gains in internet inclusivity in recent years , driven primarily by improvements in availability of services . 1 However , affordability ( cost relative to income ), relevance ( local language and content ) and readiness ( skills , cultural acceptance and supporting policy ) continue to define a divide between on- and off-line populations .
Within this context , EdTech has potential to either exacerbate or alleviate inequality .
EdTech innovators and educators should consider how education systems can use technology to level up marginalised students . They should explore how systems in developing countries , which are expanding rapidly now , could incorporate technology into their strategies to grow with equity and quality .
The move to online learning during the pandemic helped to crystalise many questions about EdTech . It was like a big experiment , forced upon us by circumstance , making pessimists of some and optimists of others . It ’ s fair to ask :
EdTech has potential to either exacerbate or alleviate inequality .
• Is the digital divide impossible to bridge , or is it closing in faster and in more ingenious ways than we imagined ?
• Did the move to online learning during the pandemic test the skills of teachers and the limits of students , or did it reveal their resourcefulness and ability to adapt and grow ?
• Did the world become more unequal , or did we arrive at a new level of awareness of problems and the motivation to address them ?
• Are online educational resources merely a second-best solution , or do they open worlds for students and teachers and create a fundamentally new way of learning ?
• Can EdTech help education systems meet their goals of equity , quality and universality ? I ’ d like EdTech innovators and educators to land on the optimistic side of these questions . That will take hard work , imagination and most of all a commitment to making EdTech work for marginalised students rather than reinforcing the advantages of the better off . That is the promise of EdTech , and the path to “ equitable , quality education for all ”. ■
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