Remote learning and digital inclusion.

 

Over 70% of respondents to the Global Conversation highlighted digital education as a key emerging challenge facing the right to education today. However, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have also heralded new opportunities in education. From the end of the 20th century, ICTs were integrated into classroom settings, with a gradual rise in computers, laptops, interactive whiteboards and projectors assisting educators in delivering multimedia education content. In recent times, a more expansive change through digitization, digitalization and digital transformation has been taking place. An increased use of ‘synchronous’ technologies such as audiovideo conferencing and text-based chat, coupled with ‘asynchronous’ technologies that permit the recording and retrieval of learning and teaching activities and projects at different times, have assisted teachers in providing education to their learners, even when physically apart due to successive lockdowns.

Digital technologies represent vast opportunities for learning, knowledge-sharing, connection and collaboration. The power of ICTs to complement and supplement in-person schooling was highlighted in the Education 2030 Framework for Action and the Qingdao Declaration (2015). ICTs have the potential to provide a more participatory learning experience. Multimedia content and gamified experiences can engage learners of all ages. Moreover, there are benefits for teachers in terms of planning, evaluation and responsiveness, with increasingly sophisticated ways to track and assess learners and target individuals at risk of drop-out or in need of extra support. The consultative process revealed that the use of AI technology has both immense potential (and risks that are outlined in section 4.6), requiring a whole-brain approach which entails cognitive, academic, social and emotional aspects. Learning spaces are changing, with repercussions on how learning occurs.

Education can happen anywhere, at any time, broadening the possibilities for part-time courses that fit around work, or for those with caring responsibilities, providing options for working parents, and particularly working mothers. The lack of geographical restraint can have huge benefits for learners more likely to be excluded from education, such as physically disabled learners with large accessibility barriers to overcome. The development of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) has revolutionized access to higher education due to their low cost and flexible entry points (UNESCO, 2022d) and now allows for a certain level of virtual mobility and accessibility as learners from lowerincome regions can enroll into universities in wealthier countries without the costs of moving there. Moreover, there are benefits for teachers in terms of planning, evaluation and responsiveness, with increasingly sophisticated ways to track and assess learners and target individuals at risk of drop-out or in need of extra support. Yet, the rise in the use of ICTs in education leads to two outstanding concerns: first, an increase in marginalization, often referred to as the ‘digital divide’, and second, the lack of regulation for learner protection, including data protection and privacy online.

 Marginalization and the digital divide

Half of learners that were affected by school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic did not have access to a household computer and 43% have no internet at home (UNESCO, 2020b). States reporting in the context of the 10th Consultation referred to the suspension of face-to-face classes and issues of connectivity for teachers and learners as the biggest obstacle faced by the national education system during the pandemic. Online learning can also deepen inequalities between learners due to unequal access to the internet and equipment such as computers, smartphones and tablets. Learners with existing vulnerabilities, such as those living in poverty or in rural areas, or those living through conflict, migration, displacement or natural disasters, will likely experience a compounding lack of access. Barriers to distance learning are also often felt more keenly by girls who tend to have lower rates of access to electronic devices, and persons with disabilities that may struggle to access adaptive technologies or digital content in a suitable format. Furthermore, barriers to digital education are not evenly geographically dispersed. Across the globe, 50% of learners did not have access to a household computer, whereas in Sub-Saharan Africa, this figure was 89%.17 Within countries, the urban-rural divide has undoubtably been intensified, as people in urban areas tend to have access to better quality internet, and those in remote areas are sometimes cut off entirely. The digital divide runs deeper than physical access to devices and internet connectivity. There is growing recognition of a psychological barrier to accessing digital education, whether that be caused by lack of interest, computer anxiety or unattractiveness of new technology (van Dijk & Hacker, 2003). This digital skills gap has a gendered dimension – women are much more likely than men to report lack of skills as a barrier to internet use, and this gap is more pronounced for women who are older, less educated, lower-income or living in rural areas and developing countries (UNESCO, 2022d). These barriers will need to be addressed through the development of digital literacy skills. These are not just functional skills and technical know-how, but also encompass ‘critical digital literacy’ – understanding the politics of digital society and digital economy, recognizing the motivations of actors in digital spaces and the way that technologies exert profound influence on people (International Commission on the Futures of Education, 2021)

Interconnected rights 

The Commission on the Futures of Education (2021) advocate for the broadening of our understanding of the right to education and recognition of the interconnectedness of that right withother rights, namely, the right to information, the right to culture and the right to connectivity. The right to education is supported by, and supports in turn, the right to information. Education has a role in giving people the skills to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, and allows for the sharing of accurate information in a world of spiralling misinformation. Similarly, education interacts with the right to participate in cultural life by supporting people in accessing and contributing to cultural resources. Whether or not there exists an independent right to connectivity (to include internet, availability of devices, other basic infrastructural requirements such as electricity) is another question. Several respondents to the Global Conversation specified that, from their perspective, internet connectivity is now a ‘basic necessity’ or a ‘service component’ of the right to education. In 2016, the GeneralAssembly of the United Nations (2016) passed a non-binding Resolution that ‘declared internet access a basic right’ and ‘an important tool to facilitate the promotion of the right to education’ but only went as far as to prevent governments from ‘taking away’ access, rather than guaranteeing it. The ReWired Declaration can give guidance as to the evolving responsibilities of States with regard to ensuring connectivity. 

During the consultative process the right to connectivity was seen as more of an ‘ally’ to the right toeducation, than a prerequisite to its realization. Nevertheless, participants felt that if digital learning is made a part of compulsory schooling, this may produce some responsibility on the part of the State to ensure access. They reflected on whether a right to connectivity would be fulfilled by connecting schools, or whether States could have a responsibility to households or individuals in the future as well, as learning is meant to take place across all spaces and throughout life. It was agreed that education sector plans should redirect funding to areas that are most underdeveloped to create access to electricity and connection to the internet, as priority. 

Strengthening the legal framework for digital inclusion

The current international legal framework can be interpreted for the digital transformation era using the 4As framework – education must be available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. In this context, States are already duty-bound to ensure equitable access to digital devices, internet connection, related basic infrastructures, such as electricity, and the necessary platforms and tools for learners to engage in this type of learning, without discrimination, as it becomes a necessary part of all levels of education. ICTs should be adaptable for learners at risk of exclusion and content should be acceptable in terms of quality and relevance. The consultative process also outlined some specific rights and obligations to tackle digital exclusion, such as an obligation to ensure digital literacy skills, to regulate digital learning spaces in the context of private/commercial involvement, implementing and ensuring quality standards and empowering teachers to produce their own digital resources to ensure the inclusion of all their learners. The predominance of digital materials in dominant languages, such as English, was also noted, suggesting a responsibility to ensure the creation of resources in local languages. The CRC Committee, in its General Comment No. 25 (2021), elaborated a number of legislative, administrative and other measures that States should make to protect children in the digitalenvironment, including equitable investment in technological infrastructure in learner settings,teaching digital literacy in schools and developing evidence-based policies and standards for schools to enhance educational benefits. The General Comment groups its guidance around four overarching rights of the child: non-discrimination; the best interests of the child; the right of the child to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child.