Digital by default? How can a critique of the educational response to the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic support teachers in Northern Ireland to identify inequalities in access to digital education for young people?

Abstract

The Coronavirus pandemic and the widespread deployment of remote online teaching to support learning continuity has provided an unexpected opportunity to learn about the challenges relating to digital inequalities in education. This research study examines the experience of school leaders, teachers, and parents in Northern Ireland over a two-year period between March 2020 and March 2022. In doing so it explores the response of schools to the pandemic and highlights issues relating to digital inclusion. It asks what can be learned from this emergency shift to widespread online teaching, what can we learn about inequalities in access for digital education and how can the challenges relating to inclusion be addressed in the future?

This study provides a timely contextual critique of the progress made over the last 25 years in digital education, producing a timeline of developments in Northern Ireland, right up to the point when the pandemic arrived. Then, responding pragmatically as the pandemic unfolds, this study takes a two-phased approach. The first explores experiences of teachers during the initial lockdown as the sudden closure of most schools led teachers to develop strategies to support learning remotely, including providing emergency remote teaching online. The second phase builds on the findings from the initial
lockdown, expanding the knowledge of this extraordinary event by providing a comparative schools’ study, interviewing school leaders, teachers and parents and exploring the use of digital capital to measurement components of digital exclusion. Focusing on the lived experiences of school leaders, teachers and parents, this study identifies the inequalities presented as schools adapt to supporting learning remotely.

Findings expose the complex reality of digital inequalities as they exist within and throughout our schools and communities. The inconsistencies experienced by learners during the educational response to Coronavirus reflect the inadequacies of the development of digital education in Northern Ireland, made worse by a 16-year gap in policy. Developing digital education beyond the pandemic will require considerable action to ensure consistency across and within schools and to raise awareness of issues relating to digital inequalities. It concludes that building an inclusive digital future for Northern Ireland, particularly as technology continues its ubiquitous influence on society, will involve a system-wide regional vision that puts inclusion at the heart of digital education.

Date of Award	Mar 2025
Original language	English
Sponsors	Department for the Economy
Supervisor	David Barr (Supervisor)