Digital Divide

 

United Kingdom Digital divide:          

       

The concept and research about digital divide emerged during the nineties with the rise of information technology and the inequalities generated by the lack of access to infrastructures such as the internet, with the most used definition being: “a division between people who have access and use of digital media and those who do not” (Dijk, 2020). Enforcing the idea of social strata based on digital accessibility, Ragnedda (Ragnedda, 2016) reinforces it by exploring several academic studies under the lens of Max Webber’s century-old ideology about social divide adapted to the reality of the digital world and its ramifications in terms of economic, cultural, and socio-political aspects. All relevant issues heightened during the first lockdown with schools, educators, and students forced to quickly adapt from physical school-based learning to an online learning format around several E-learning platforms. This change soon highlighted the digital divide that the UK faced, with many schools in deprived areas unable to deliver online learning. A research paper by The Sutton Trust (Cullinane and Montacute, 2020) declares that only 23% of schools in deprived regions already had an online platform compared with 60% for private schools. This situation was exacerbated due to social deprivation, with families unable to afford internet or physical devices such as tablets or laptops, leaving a significant percentage of children digitally excluded (CCHPR, 2020).   

 

 

To bridge the divide, the government announced digital platforms to help schools (GOV.UK 2, 2020) and pledged to deliver laptops to disadvantaged children (GOV.UK 3, 2021).   

These measures proved to be instrumental for many, but, as of January 2021, nine months after implementation, news outlets reported that between 1 and 1.8 million children still did not have access to physical devices (BBC, 2021), even with over 800.000 laptops delivered under the scheme. New figures reveal that the number of machines provided at the time was even lower, standing at 562.421 units as of 04/01/2021, rising to 876.013 on 06/10/2021. An amount short of the 1.8m worst scenario (GOV.UK 4, 2021), an example of how even mainstream media can be biased or manipulated to provide incorrect figures.   

A 2020 LLAKES research paper (Green, 2020) reported that 71% of state school children attended less than one online lesson a day. The average children only spend 2.5 hours a day on homework, and only 17% of children study for 4 hours or more. In comparison, A typical school day consists of 6 or 7 hours, and according to the data presented, even the most engaged children only studied half that amount daily.           

According to research by The Sutton Trust (Cullinane and Montacute, 2020), the differences in attendance, engagement, and resources between private and state schools are noticeable, reinforcing how children in low-income families are at risk of effectively losing years of study. Research for The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (Lally and Bermingham, 2020) predicts that the knowledge gap created by the digital divide will severely affect disadvantaged students. By deducing that it will follow them throughout their life and that in the mid-2030s, we will have a quarter of the workforce with lower skills than they were supposed to, affecting their access to higher education, which will impact the national economy through the loss of potential earnings.          

  Accordingly, we have children at distinct stages who lost school years and show a substantial knowledge gap. Schools now face students at key stage 3 (KS3) without basic numeracy and literacy skills and the foundations needed to understand an already challenging curriculum. Correspondingly, key stage 4 (KS4) unprepared for GSCE’s, or in the case of 2020 students, lacking this experience for future examinations. Stressors that will impact children MH&WB and their inclusion on an unprecedented scale.             

          

Resources.

 

Something as simple as typing, makes a world of difference for years 7 pupils, I found ratatype extremely helpful for quick assessment of the classroom typing skills, and to develop typing skills. The students enjoyed the experience and tried constantly to beat their own and colleagues scores. To try and bridge the typing skills divide, I used a full hour, and set up some tasks for homework, and the students  improved considerably in a short time frame. 

 

https://www.ratatype.com/

 

 

 

References

 

Dijk, J. van (2020) Google-Books-ID: 6DvKDwAAQBAJ. The Digital Divide. John Wiley &      Sons.  

 

BBC (2021) Digital divide ‘locking children out of education’. BBC News. [Online] 29 January. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-55816686 [Accessed: 7 October 2021].  

 

CCHPR (2020) Opinion: Coronavirus has intensified the UK’s digital divide. [Online]. 6 May 2020. University of Cambridge. Available from: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/digitaldivide [Accessed: 7 October 2021].  

 

Cullinane, C. & Montacute, R. (2020) COVID-19 and Social Mobility Impact Brief #1: School Shutdown. 11. [Online]. Available from: https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/covid-19-and-social-mobility-impact-brief/ [Accessed: 17 October 2021]. 

 

GOV.UK 2 (2020) Digital education platforms - Get help with technology - GOV.UK. [Online]. 2020. Available from: https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/digital-platforms [Accessed: 7 October 2021].  

 

GOV.UK 3 (2021) Laptops, tablets and connectivity data as of 13 July 2021. [Online]. 2021. GOV.UK. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/laptops-tablets-and-connectivity-data-as-of-13-july-2021 [Accessed: 7 October 2021].  

 

GOV.UK 4 (2021) Laptops and tablets data, Week 4 2021. [Online]. 2021. Available from: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/laptops-and-tablets-data/2021-week-4 [Accessed: 7 October 2021].  

 

Green, F. (2020) Schoolwork in lockdown: new evidence on the epidemic of educational poverty. 24. [Online]. Available from: https://www.llakes.ac.uk/publication/research-paper-67-schoolwork-in-lockdown-new-evidence-on-the-epidemic-of-educational-poverty/ [Accessed: 17 October 2021].  

 

Lally, C. & Bermingham, R. (2020) COVID-19 and the disadvantage gap. [Online] Available from: https://post.parliament.uk/covid-19-and-the-disadvantage-gap/ [Accessed: 7 October 2021].  

 

Ragnedda, M. (2016) The Third Digital Divide: A Weberian Approach to Digital Inequalities. [Online]. London, Routledge. Available from: doi:10.4324/9781315606002.