The Stakes of Inclusive EdTech: Getting the Ecosystems Right
UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education takes a critical look back at common setbacks from the last two years, and charts a new course for inclusive and connected learning.
In the space of a few weeks in early 2020, global education was thrown into emergency mode at a scale unparalleled in recent history. And like any emergency, the response required speed, audacity and readiness to experiment with new approaches. This was a race to maintain formal learning in face of near universal school closures, and it leaned heavily on connected technologies.
Two years into the pandemic, with schools reopened in most countries, it is time to touch the pause button. Was the pandemic the breakthrough moment for edtech? Certainly, we’ve seen innovation and mobilization at a pace never before witnessed in the education sector. But the experience has also been a humbling one, a reality check that provides us with an opportunity to see technology anew and in ways that could set an entirely new, more inclusive and more equitable course for connected learning.
While tech solutions made it possible for learning to continue during school closures, for nearly 500 million learners it was a solution that never started. For millions more, it was one that quickly broke down. Half the world’s population lack a functional internet connection. Over 700 million people don’t have access to electricity. The gender digital divide significantly constrained girls’ ability to learn online. The cost of devices is simply prohibitive for poor families. Beyond the hardware, there are further obstacles: teachers’ lack of readiness to use technology; available space to learn at home, the ability of families to support their children’s learning…
This reality check is healthy for moving forward. The pandemic reminded us of the value of schools as places where young people meet in-person, face-to-face and develop socially and emotionally, as well as academically. The assertion that technology will enable education to leapfrog to a better future has proven persistently elusive. Education, we must always remember, is a social, relational and human process, and it would be dangerous to narrow down the prescription to single solutions, especially ones that sideline humans in favor of technology.
At the same time, there is no doubt that the tide has turned. We have seen just how necessary digital skills have become for learning, work and life. We’ve seen the powerful ways collaboration can help us find solutions to novel challenges, as well as those that have been with us for decades. Edtech and other partners were quick to rally around UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition which joins up multiple partners around a mission of improving and expanding education — and it is having impact.
Now, the challenge is going to scale, and doing so in the right way. Just as it is said that it takes a village to raise a child, it takes an ecosystem for edtech to take root — one involving governments, companies, universities, and of course schools and teachers. The mission of such an ecosystem must be clear: if education systems are to recover and make a dent in a pre-existing education crisis, edtech must be at the service of inclusion and equity.
It’s in this spirit that UNESCO, with the support of Dubai Cares, has developed a Global Declaration on Connectivity for Education to provide the roadmap we need to make technology work for education, instead of making education work for technology. It will further allow us to step-up financing to advance inclusive education, putting the human factor center-stage. This is the way forward hand-in-hand with edtech.
This article was originally published in the X Report — a monthly newsletter published by EdTechX which shares features based on current trends in the world of learning and training.
