No Child Left Behind – Maths Champion Bobby Seagull Campaigns To End The Digital Divide

More children must have access to digital technology at home if the achievement gap is not to widen even more . Bobby Seagull urges people to join in the campaign

Bobby Seagull on Universit y Challenge — Bobby Seagull, secondary school teacher and maths media star

‘Teaching online is problematic,’ said Seagull. ‘ We assume children have access to devices and broadband but up to a million children in the UK either don’t have access to a device or to broadband, or if they do, their broadband speed may not be fast enough to stream lessons live.’

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      string(5854) "per cent of schoolchildren who were unable to access remote learning lived in the poorest households in their country. In upper-middle-income countries, schoolchildren from the poorest households account for up to 86 per cent of students unable to access remote learning.’ The authors commented that the ‘data suggests this has left at least a third of the world’s schoolchildren—463 million children globally—unable to access remote learning during school closures.’Impact on higher educationIt was not just school children who suffered. It extended to university education too. 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The main reasons were socio-economic barriers (79%) and uncertainty in day-to-day life caused by the pandemic (74%) which has impacted on students’ motivation and resilience. 70% of OUP’s experts concluded the shift to digital learning has raised concerns about student wellbeing, and 85% believed that learners from disadvantaged backgrounds have fallen behind their more advantaged peers.Neurodivergent learners and children and students with additional physical, behavioural or cognitive learning needs have fared particularly badly. In the UK, Ofsted’s November report found that children with additional educational needs and disabilities had been ‘seriously affected’ across all age groups, both in their care and education, losing vital support including speech and language services.    Recommendations   The OUP’s report proposes these actions:  1. Governments should actively collaborate and learn from teachers and students and use their recent experiences to inform future policy and curriculum development2. Governments need to work with institutions to address the digital learning divide, not just now, but for the future too3. Wellbeing must be considered as part of education policy —including support for teachers and parents4. Curricula should evolve to provide learners with the skills they need to be both digitally fluent, and adaptable to whatever the future holds5. We must not assume a ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to digital learning and must consider individual circumstances6. Teachers must be brought along the digital journey and supported via professional development7. As institutions start to return to the classroom, they will need to develop strategies to support re-integration and learner motivation 8. 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Leadership

A Retrospective On Lockdown

14 May 2021

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Leadership Briefing 9.08(104)"
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      string(5032) "Leadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.YOUNG DIGITAL MAKERSKeywordsYoung people,digital makers,digital divide,child, learning,digitaltechnology,apps, games,websites,attitudes, out-of-school activities SummaryThis report by Nesta points to a new digital divide, showing that for every child learning tomake things using digital technology, over 60 are being left behind. The report maps interest,opportunities and support in the UK – both in and out of school – for young people to learnhow to use digital technologies to make their own apps, games, websites as well as editingmusic, videos, images and so on.This report explores the emerging field of digital making for young people in the UK. It charts theorganisations providing opportunities for young people to make things with technology; looks at howthese opportunities relate to what young people learn in school; and explores the attitudes of youngpeople, parents and teachers towards digital making.The report finds that while over 8 million children are eager to get to grips with making things withdigital technology, there were just 130,800 face-to-face opportunities available for them to learnoutside of the classroom in the last year. The school’s role is important in developing these skillsand interests, but this needs to be supplemented by out-of-school activities at home and in clubs:providing the space, encouragement and resources for the next generation to experiment and createusing digital tools.With demand greatly outstripping supply, the report warns that the UK is neglecting its digital needsand the skills the economy will need in the future.It argues that the UK is at risk of the next generation growing up as passive digital consumers ratherthan confident creators and makers of digital products.The report found that while many young people report dabbling in tech – 83 per cent have madesomething online – a third (33 per cent) do so less than once a week and almost a fifth (17 per cent)have never done so.Key Findings: ■ 82 per cent of young people say they are interested in digital making. However, half of youngpeople make things with digital technology less than once a week or never. Parents areoverwhelmingly supportive of digital making. 89 per cent think it is a worthwhile activity for theirchildren. 73 per cent encourage their children to make things with technology. ■ We identified 130,800 opportunities to experience digital making provided by the organisationsWeek Commencing 16th March 2015http://www.nesta.org.uk/sites/default/files/young-digital-makers-march-2015.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/359483/DFE-RR286_-_Are_free_schools_using_innovative_approaches.pdfLeadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.surveyed. This is a long way from providing for the interest shown by 82 per cent of our survey,which represents a possible 8.2 million school age children and young people in the UK. ■ Digital making is powered not just by money, but also by volunteers. Two thirds of theorganisations identified said they relied on volunteers to do their work. ■ Only half of teachers who teach ICT or computing report being confident in teaching thecurriculum.Key Recommendations: ■ The high levels of interest in digital making amongst young people and parents need to becapitalised on further. ■ Young people need to be supported as digital makers across the UK, not just in London and areasthat have high provision. ■ Non-professionals – such as volunteers, parents, teachers, and young people themselves – needto be mobilised. ■ There needs to be greater access to a variety of making opportunities catering for a wider varietyof young people and their different interests, ages and genders. ■ Clear pathways to excellence should be built to grow young people’s ambitions as digital makersand help them fulfill their potential, in and out of school. ■ Schools must exploit their potential as a hub for digital making opportunities, work with informallearning organisations, raise parents’ awareness and recruit volunteers. ■ Digital making organisations need to be supported to grow sustainably through new and existingpartnerships with grassroots organisations and private companies.WEB LINKYoung Digital Makershttp://www.nesta.org.uk/sites/default/files/young-digital-makers-march-2015.pdf"
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Leadership

Young Digital Makers

11 Mar 2015

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Leadership

The National Online Tuition Pilot

15 Feb 2021

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      string(3557) "online BBC jam service (www.bbc.co.uk/jam), specifically designed for home use; andthe internet contains a vast array of invaluablesources of research, help with revision and theopportunity for students to communicate andcollaborate in their learning.It is ironic, then, that the impact of the digitaldivide actually grows as a school develops agreater reliance on students being able to accessonline learning from outside the classroom,whether via the school network, a learningplatform or internet-based learning resources.And it will continue to grow unless action istaken to ensure that every student also hashome access.Is there emerging goodpractice?There is a strong correlation between schoolsthat have high levels of e-confidence and thosethat have taken steps to address the digitaldivide as it affects the families in theircommunity. This is hardly surprising. It isunreasonable to expect a school ICT strategy toencompass the wider learning environment thatincludes the home until the school has fullyrealised their plans to equip the school buildingand campus, and until ICT has becomeembedded in the pedagogy of the school, notjust the physical infrastructure.However, there are many schools that havearrived at this stage, and these schools deploy arange of strategies to help ensure that all pupilshave access to both hardware and connectivity athome and, where appropriate, elsewhere in thecommunity. They also often proactively extend thataccess to the wider family. Typical strategiesinclude:■ A switch of procurement strategy from fixeddesktop computers and ICT suites to mobilecomputer technologies operating within acampus-wide wireless environment.■ The implementation of school policies thatencourage students to book a school laptopout for the evening/weekend/holiday.■ e-Learning programmes that involve parentsin making regular donations so that studentscan have home access to a wide range oflearning resources, including the allocationof a device for every student, which can bea laptop, tablet, PDA or home PC. Theaverage size of this donation can vary from£3.00 to £6.00 a week, depending on thegeneral wealth of the community and thecost of the package of e-learning resources.■ Where equity of access is the abidingprinciple (and it is a principle that the e-Learning Foundation believes is criticallyimportant), then schools ensure theymaximise Gift Aid tax relief and grantopportunities from the e-LearningFoundation.The impact of the digital divide is a subtleform of discrimination, hitting children fromlow-income families, single parent families andthose with limited awareness of the growingrole of technology in a modern educationsystem. Schools have the power to make asignificant impact on the level of access totechnology to support learners beyond theclassroom, often with very limited additionalinvestment. But they have to know they havegot a problem and they have to be willing todo something about it!■ Valerie Thompson is Chief Executive ofthe e-Learning Foundation.‘Schools have the power to make a significant impacton the level of access to technology to supportlearners beyond the classroom, often with very limitedadditional investment’Where to go for help■ Contact the e-Learning Foundation for adviceand information on our grants programme.■ Contact your Local Authority to see if yourschool is eligible for some of the £60m HomeSchool programme, launched in Autumn 2006."
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Digital Learning

The digital divide – and why it won’t go away

15 Apr 2013

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      string(5833) "12 WINTER2007Leadership and managementGetting hold of theHARDWAREJAN HOWELLS highlights the work of the e-Learning Foundation in helpingmanagers to enable their schools to bridge the digital divide13WINTER2007Leadership and managementThe e-Learning Foundation, set up in2001, is the only charity in the UKworking to close the ‘digital divide’ byworking with schools, parents and otherstakeholders to ensure that all schoolchildren haveaccess to technology for their studies both insideand outside school, irrespective of theirbackgrounds.Technology is such a big part of our daily livesthat most of us take it for granted. Using it hasbecome second nature. But there are still 2.5million disadvantaged schoolchildren in the UKwho are living on the edge of digital society,without access to a computer or the Internet athome for their studies.The e-Learning Foundation’s work hashighlighted the fact that when children haveaccess to technology when and where they wantit, their learning can benefit. Children only spend15% of their lives at school, so the quality oflearning that takes place outside the classroom isa major determinant of their educational success.The e-Learning Foundation’s campaign toeradicate the ‘digital divide’ in the UK has helpedover 180 plus schools and 34,000 of the country’smost deprived students and their families gainhome access to IT. Its grants programme has sofar contributed over £7m to help schools servingdisadvantaged communities set up sustainable e-learning projects. Holmesdale TechnologyCollege and Elm Grove First School highlighthow e-learning can aid children in their studies.Holmesdale Technology CollegeHolmesdale Technology College, a specialistTechnology College in Snodland, Kent with over700 pupils, is one of many schools across thecountry that has benefited from the work of thee-Learning Foundation. The project was this yearshortlisted for the ‘Community Project of theYear’ in the prestigious 2007 Computing Awards.Holmesdale is a secondary modern schoolwithin a county-wide selective system in which25% pupils go to grammar schools. Half the pupilscome from households where there is socialdeprivation. Snodland East is the fourth mostdeprived ward in West Kent and over a third ofHomesdale’s pupils live in this ward.Back in September 2005 Holmesdale decidede-learning was the way forward to encompass homestudy. Following a consultation with the e-LearningFoundation, the school outlined the project to Year7 pupils and their parents. The scheme has beensuch a success that ccurrently pupils in Years 7, 8and 9 have the opportunity to join the programmealong with the September 2007 new in-take. Parentswho can afford it make a small monthlycontribution to the project. It also benefits fromthe Government’s Gift Aid Scheme.‘Holmesdale looks to provide all its pupils withthe knowledge and skills to enable them toparticipate in a fast evolving technological society.This includes its’ e-learning strategy which hasbeen designed to provide pupils with additionallearning tools and a grounding in ICT for theirfuture careers,’ commented Joy Palmer, theAssistant Headteacher.The school’s e-learning project, backed by thee-Learning Foundation, has gone from strengthto strength. It is now partnering with The MallingSchool. ‘This is a stimulating proposition and, asand an additional offering to mainstream pupils,the Specialised Language Unit within the schoolwill be providing individual laptops for pupilswith communication difficulties,’ Palmer said.Into the second year of the project, the school’sA*-C grades have improved in parallel with theincrease in general ICT use. Holmesdale has alsonoted a marked increase in motivation amongstpreviously underperforming children since itintroduced its e-learning scheme.Elmgrove First SchoolElmgrove First School in Worthing, West Sussexset up its e-learning project it to contacted thee-Learning Foundation to help look at putting asustainable project in place. It would besustainable in that children would havetechnology to use in their homes as well as inschool. Teachers didn’t not want it to be a projectto enhance the learning of pupils who alreadyhad computers at home, but one they that wouldbenefit all children in the school. The school has250 pupils ranging from five to eight years old.The school also wanted to reach families in theschool for whom learning has been difficult inthe past. They felt that that for some families, accessto the hardware at home would be an enrichingexperience; training for parents in use ofequipment and protocols was regarded as animportant part of the sustainable e-learning project.With the help of parents and a grant from thee-Learning Foundation’s partnership with DSGi’s‘Switched On Communities’ initiative, acommunity investment program that supportsdisadvantaged groups through the provision oftechnology and training. DSGi is best knownfor its high street stores PC World and Currysdigital and Dixons.Pauline Warren, head teacher at the school saidthere has been an exceptional response fromparents and children alike to the e-learningproject: ‘Parents have reported that their children’sICT skills are amazing and that the children areenthusiastically and voluntarily continuing theirmaths and writing at home. One of the projectobjectives was to empower pupils to take activecontrol of the learning agenda, and it has beenextraordinary how quickly the 5-year-olds havebegun to do just that.’Parents have reported that the children aretalking much more about what they have beendoing"
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Digital Learning

Getting Hold Of The Hardware

13 Jan 2008

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