Bitesize Research: Role Of Technology In Post-Pandemic Education Recovery

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far. The ongoing research into the impact of the pandemic and into education recovery is an area that has maintained my interest for the last few years. As such, I was interested to see the summary paper from the Educational Policy Institute event about education recovery for disadvantaged students and in particular, the role played by technology in alleviating the gaps.

Objectives: To evaluate the ongoing education recovery for students after the pandemic, and the role that technology has to play within this

Summary: 

• Disadvantaged students have disproportionately fallen behind their peers after the pandemic, and a number of critical barriers to effective education recovery remain for these students including:

• Low attendance rate

• Poor mental health

• Exacerbated existing socioeconomic divisions

• Technology has an important part to play in overcoming these barriers

• EdTech and technology must build on and use existing evidence-based understanding of effective pedagogies in order to be effective 

• The use of technology will also be important to support students at risk of being NEET and will enable them to improve their employability skills

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• What are the barriers for the disadvantaged students in my classes or tutor group? How do I know?

• What is important in the WA context in terms of disadvantaged students using technology? 

• How am I using technology to support my disadvantaged students?

• How do I ensure that good pedagogies are reflected in the way I use technology for learning?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!