Three main challenges are considered:
In terms of equity and inclusion, while technology helps lower costs to access education, internet connectivity at home is highly unequal by wealth and location, and less than half of rural schools in the region have internet.
In terms of quality, digital technology can enliven student experiences and facilitate learner collaboration. Yet rigorous evidence of its impact is rare. While new technology may overcome some constraints, it brings its own problems, including increased screen time and risks to children’s privacy.
Improvements to efficiency may be the most promising, whether by freeing up time for more meaningful education activities or by generating large volumes of valuable data. However, each tool has major implications in terms of regulation and capacity development.
Three conditions need to be met for technology's potential to be fulfilled: equitable access to technology, appropriate governance and regulation, and sufficient teacher capacity. Supporting this publication is a series of country profiles on PEER, a policy dialogue resource describing policies and regulations related to technology in the region’s education systems.
Accompanying the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, this regional edition analyses the ways that these developments are playing out in education in Southeast Asia, where they add value and where they add complications. Reflecting global trends, learners, teachers and institutions in Southeast Asia, a region of some 400 million internet users, have embraced digital technology at a sprint. Learning management platforms have multiplied. Micro-credentials are fast changing higher education.
Yet this report points out how little is known about whether and how technology impacts learning, even though mobile and online technology is widely used for learning purposes. Moreover, the report highlights how technology often leaves marginalized learners behind with a lack of skills to fully benefit from it. In short, the blanket assumption that technology improves teaching and learning still needs to be proven.
This report calls for education stakeholders to pause and reflect before investing in technology solutions. The digital transformation can benefit education but must be appropriate for the context. It must be equitable and with the right governance and regulations in place. Teachers need to be given the support and training they need to make the most of the digital tools they can access.
You can access the full report here.
More information on the UNESCO Profiles Enhancing Education Reviews (PEER) here.
