Digital equality in education

This project will conduct a pre- and post-pandemic analysis of digital inequality and academic attainment in Scotland.

Digital inequalities are defined as differences in access to digital devices and the internet, or the literacy and skills to use them. Children and young people living with socio-economic inequalities are more likely to experience digital inequality, limiting their ability to take part in online learning at school and at home. This issue has been brought into sharper focus by school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is great concern about potential scarring effects on the longer-term education and employment outcomes of this generation of young people. This study will undertake a pre-, during- and post-pandemic analysis of trends in secondary school pupils’ participation in online learning in Scotland.

The research will use anonymised data from SCHOLAR from academic year 2018/19 to 2021/22. SCHOLAR is a not-for-profit e-learning service used by almost all publicly-funded schools in Scotland, and by around three-quarters of independent schools. The researchers will examine descriptive national trends in online learning participation at the school level, including comparisons by area deprivation, with a focus on the years immediately preceding COVID-19 to 2021.

The findings from this research will provide policymakers and practitioners with evidence to better understand and address digital inequality in education.