5 Government responses to COVID-19 that are also tackling inequality in education
There will be many silver linings that come from the COVID-19 crisis. The entire world is quickly adapting to a new set of circumstances, and many of the changes that are positive are also long overdue. As a tetraplegic, I have seen the world adapt to the way of life I adapted to 11 years ago. For many years I have been mostly confined to a house, unable to move, learning how to effectively use technologies to empower myself and to be productive in limiting circumstances.
Many people with disabilities have been doing this for years. It’s old hat. Video-conferencing technology has provided a way for anyone to participate in a business meeting, school or university lecture from anywhere. Those who have access to a device and the internet can reach out for an unlimited amount of information, people, and opportunities. With all of this technology, social capital and goodwill from the general public, why don’t we have more inclusive workplaces, schools, government policies and opportunities for participation for all in the economy and wider society?
This is the perfect time to ensure that the equality of opportunity the COVID-19 crisis has afforded people with disabilities and others continues when everything goes back to normal. Across the world it has been proven that organisations can adapt and be flexible so that those in unusual circumstances can participate in the workforce. Let’s ensure that policies around flexibility and working from home always honours and include those in unusual circumstances. Right now, everyone is on a more even playing field, and it is a field that even a tetraplegic can push on.
5 Ways to Reduce Inequality
The government has done five important things in response to COVID-19 in order to reduce inequality within the education system. They have provided all students/teachers with 1) internet connection, 2) devices, 3) a list of Educational Technology (EdTech) in line with the NZ Curriculum (e.g. Education Perfect, Code Avengers, Rocket Island), 4) distributing students the best EdTech tools, and 5) home learning TV.
As a society, we should not need a pandemic to actively provide internet access and devices to all school students at home. While the COVID-19 crisis highlights the need for internet access as a human right, it's been obvious for a while that - as a nation and as a species - we can't be the best we can without everyone having access to the tools they need to be productive members of society. These tools include information and education in how to filter out incorrect information.
In my experience as a developer and promoter of EdTech, before the COVID-19 crisis, there was a need to actively distribute EdTech resources to schools and teachers. Additionally, it must be acknowledged that most teachers and parents do not have time, knowledge or skills to research different applications to determine which are safe and in line with the curriculum. While the MoE provides some online resources and support to help transition schools to the new Digital Curriculum, these have not been sufficient for teachers/parents, who may lack the digital skills to decode this information or who are not as digitally fluent as the students they are teaching.
As MoE describes in the Digital Curriculum “a digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems.” Still, we need more guidance around when and why teachers should use specific digital technologies to achieve specific tasks. We also need to focus on digital literacy in novel and tangible ways and with urgency to ensure every student in NZ can keep up with the rate of technological progress in society.
In spite of educational debates surrounding whether self-directed or parent-directed digital tools are as effective as face-to-face learning or teachers facilitating the use of digital tools, COVID-19 has highlighted how digital tools can provide a worthwhile alternative and flexibility to those in unusual circumstances. The MoE could see this as an opportunity to provide appropriate EdTech resources to all students (work that is currently underway in response to COVID-19), but also to pull together a list of suitable resources in line with the NZ Curriculum or an ‘EdTech tick of approval’ that can guide teachers and parents in the right direction.
Another overdue change to reduce inequality brought to the surface by COVID-19 is a publicly funded home learning TV channel. For many distance learners who are immunocompromised, disabled, sick, or at home looking after siblings, travelling to a traditional school is not always safe or achievable. While Te Kura Correspondence School and home schooling is an option for some, providing a home learning TV channel permanently is likely to reduce the number of students falling through the cracks, and further support those students and parents learning through correspondence.
Finally, making sure all government websites follow a high standard of web accessibility (ideally following Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1) would also address a long lasting issue. We have accessibility standards in the physical world, so why not in the digital world, which is the preferred world for many people with disabilities? With the increased use of online resources in education and workplaces, it is important that all private websites follow specified ‘minimum standards’.
Early Investment Reduces Ongoing Costs
The upfront cost of having equality of opportunity to education may seem high in times of need, but as the COVID-19 outbreak has helped reveal the vulnerability of society can be much more costly. The current need to organise access to the Internet and EdTech tools as everyone went into lockdown, only highlights the challenges many families and people in unusual circumstances have been facing for years. The response to COVID-19 shows that it is possible to address these challenges.
With the MoE committing to closing the ‘digital divide’ and building on the positives that have come from the COVID crisis, the challenge goes out to all public and private organisations to ensure their websites, learning environments, and workplaces continue to be fully inclusive. This means being open to accommodating the needs of students with unusual circumstances by creating learning environments that are comfortable to them, improving web accessibility features on websites, and even investing in or thinking about how assistive technologies can help include students.
Many opportunities for reordering society are brought about in times of crisis, hence the saying “never let a good crisis go to waste”. I hope that we can use the COVID-19 crisis to reduce ongoing and longstanding inequities in New Zealand Education and wider society.
Tim Young completed a MSc in Psychology and a PGCert in Educational Psychology at Massey, focusing on how well students participate and learn online compared to face-to-face. He then started Education These Days Ltd which developed a 3-D open-world educational video game, called Rocket Island. Tim's expertise lies in educational technology and critical thinking.
Tim also focuses on using technology to solve accessibility issues after facing many accessibility issues in his own experiences. He has a second business, Smart Access, which consults to central and local governments on accessibility issues. Tim is also a research assistant with the Burwood Academy of Independent Living.
Tim’s TEDx Ruakura talk on the power of Educational Technology: Unlocking Humanity’s Potential.
Full disclosure: I developed an educational video game (Rocket Island) in line with the NZ Curriculum and have been asking the MoE and my local MPs to reduce the burden on teachers exploring EdTech, for a while.