• A new UNESCO report raised concerns about the excessive use of smartphones, calling for them to be banned in schools worldwide. 

• According to the Global Education Monitoring Report, the overuse of mobile phones impacts learning.

• UNESCO is urging countries to set their own standards for the way technology is designed and used in education such that it never replaces in-person, teacher-led instruction and supports the shared objective of quality education for all. 

Key points of the report:

• Smartphones in schools have also proven to be a distraction to learning, yet fewer than a quarter of countries ban their use in schools.

• The report urges countries to carefully consider how technology is used in schools.

• It calls for decisions about technology in education to prioritise the needs of the learner, making sure that any uses of technology are appropriate, equitable, scalable and sustainable.

• It emphasises the need for a “human-centered vision” where digital technology serves as a tool rather than taking precedence.

• It also highlights the disparities created by digital learning. 

• Students need to learn the risks and opportunities that come with technology and not be shielded from them entirely.

• Monitoring of data protection law implementation is needed. Only 16 per cent of countries explicitly guarantee data privacy in education by law and 29 per cent have a relevant policy, mainly in Europe and Northern America. 

• Distance learning had a potential reach of over 1 billion students. But it failed to reach at least half a billion, or 31 per cent of students worldwide – and 72 per cent of the poorest.

• Geographically, the report noted a significant imbalance in online resources favouring Europe and North America. 

• Except in the most technologically advanced countries, computers and devices are not used in classrooms on a large scale. Technology use is not universal and will not become so any time soon.

Positive aspects of the use of technology

• The adoption of digital technology has resulted in many changes in education and learning. The set of basic skills that young people are expected to learn in school, at least in richer countries, has expanded to include a broad range of new ones to navigate the digital world. 

• In many classrooms, paper has been replaced by screens and pens by keyboards. COVID-19 can be seen as a natural experiment where learning switched online for entire education systems virtually overnight. 

• Higher education is the sub-sector with the highest rate of digital technology adoption, with online management platforms replacing campuses. 

• The use of data analytics has grown in education management. Technology has made a wide range of informal learning opportunities accessible.

• Technology has historically opened up education to learners facing significant obstacles in access to schools or well-trained teachers.

• Interactive radio instruction is used in nearly 40 countries. In Nigeria, radio instruction combined with print and audio-visual materials has been used since the 1990s, reaching nearly 80 per cent of nomads and increasing their literacy, numeracy and life skills. 

• Television has helped educate marginalised groups, notably in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

• The Telesecundaria programme in Mexico, combining televised lessons with in-class support and extensive teacher training, increased secondary school enrolment by 21 per cent. 

• Mobile learning devices, often the only type of device accessible to disadvantaged learners, have been used in hard-to-reach areas and emergencies to share educational materials.

Negative aspects of the use of technology

• Too much attention on technology in education usually comes at a high cost. Resources spent on technology, rather than on classrooms, teachers and textbooks for all children in low and lower-middle-income countries lacking access to these resources are likely to lead to the world being further away from achieving the global education goal.

• Clear objectives and principles are needed to ensure that technology use is of benefit and avoids harm.

• The negative and harmful aspects in the use of digital technology in education and society include risk of distraction and lack of human contact. 

• Unregulated technology even poses threats to democracy and human rights, for instance through invasion of privacy and stoking of hatred. 

• Education systems need to be better prepared to teach about and through digital technology, a tool that must serve the best interests of all learners, teachers and administrators. 

• Impartial evidence showing that technology is being used in some places to improve education, and good examples of such use, need to be shared more widely so that the optimal mode of delivery can be assured for each context.

• Privacy risks to children make their learning environment unsafe. One analysis found that 89 per cent of 163 education technology products recommended for children’s learning during the COVID-19 pandemic could or did watch children outside school hours or education settings. 

• In addition, 39 of 42 governments providing online education during the pandemic fostered uses that ‘risked or infringed’ upon children’s rights. Data used for predictive algorithms can bias predictions and decisions and lead to discrimination, privacy violations and exclusion of disadvantaged groups.

• Children’s exposure to screen time has increased. A survey of screen time of parents of 3 to 8-year-olds in Australia, China, Italy, Sweden and the United States found that their children’s screen exposure increased by 50 minutes during the pandemic for both education and leisure. 

• Extended screen time can negatively affect self-control and emotional stability, increasing anxiety and depression. 

• Few countries have strict regulations on screen time. In China, the ministry of education limited the use of digital devices as teaching tools to 30 per cent of overall teaching time. 

• Less than one in four countries are banning the use of smartphones in schools. Italy and the United States have banned the use of specific tools or social media from schools. 

• Cyberbullying and online abuse are rarely defined as offences but can fall under existing laws, such as stalking laws as in Australia and harassment laws in Indonesia.

• The number of cyberattacks in education is rising. Such attacks increase exposure to theft of identity and other personal data, but capacity and funds to address the issue are often insufficient. 

• Globally, 5 per cent of all ransomware attacks targeted the education sector in 2022, accounting for more than 30 per cent of cybersecurity breaches. 

• Regulations on sharing children’s personal information are rare but are starting to emerge under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. China and Japan have binding instruments on protecting children’s data and information.

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