Bridging the Digital Divide: Ensuring Equal Access to ICT in Education

Regardless of where you are in the country, it’s rare to find a school that doesn’t rely on technology to support the learning process. From personalised teaching to simplifying administrative tasks, the digital revolution has transformed the education sector in a myriad of ways. However, alongside this potential comes disparity. While some schools flourish with state-of-the-art resources, others, often in marginalised or underserved communities, struggle to access even the most basic tools necessary for digital learning. That’s not to mention accessibility issues faced by SEND students, many of whom have unique needs and requirements that are often not being met successfully.

This is known as the digital divide: a significant barrier to achieving educational equality.

Read on to learn more about tackling the digital divide and discover how ICT in education consultancies are working to improve equal access in education and make sure no student is left behind.

Understanding the digital divide

The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to digital technology and the internet and those who do not. In an educational context, this gap can manifest in various ways, from differences in the availability of devices to accessibility issues for SEND students:

• Infrastructure disparities - in both rural and low-income urban areas, schools lack the infrastructure needed for digital learning. This includes unreliable or nonexistent broadband internet access, outdated devices, or no access to computers altogether - resulting in gaps in educational attainment.
• Socioeconomic barriers - even when schools are equipped with technology, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds may not have the same level of access at home. This becomes especially problematic in scenarios like the COVID-19 pandemic, where remote learning was the only available mode of education.
• Digital literacy gaps - having access to technology is only part of the solution. Students, teachers, and even parents must possess the digital literacy necessary to use these tools effectively. In many cases, the divide also includes a knowledge gap, where students in poorer areas are not provided the necessary training to maximise the potential of the technology available to them.
• Accessibility issues - for students with disabilities and learning development difficulties, consuming and interacting with digital content containing missing image alt text and missing document language can be challenging and frustrating.

How to promote digital equality for all in education

While there’s no quick fix to bridging the digital divide in education, there are things schools and MATs can do to improve accessibility to technology. Here are just a few of them:

Make sure digital devices are easy to access

A recent report by The Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA), helped by its Tech4Families initiative, has found that nearly 80% of students require online access to complete homework at least once per week. For teenagers, 84% need to get online several times per week to complete their homework.

Worryingly, 30% of those who have received a laptop from Tech4Families were previously unable to access school work at all. 58% of those that could access it were doing so with another device - mainly smartphones, which couldn’t always accommodate the requirements of tasks students were being set. Cost was cited as the most frequent reason for lack of laptop ownership, with evidence gathered by the DPA suggesting that schools don't systematically check whether pupils have access to a computer at home.

That’s why it’s crucial that students have access to digital devices to complete their work and assignments. Ensuring students have access to devices like laptops, Chromebooks, or tablets is essential for enabling their participation in digital learning activities, both in the classroom and at home.

ICT in education consultancies like Novatia can assist schools and MATs in tech procurement. We support organisations in running their own procurement exercises and provide technical advice for products and services such as ICT equipment, providing a knowledgeable pair of hands to schools who may be behind where they would like to be in their ICT strategy.

Focus on connectivity and sustainable infrastructure

The educational attainment disparity between urban and rural areas has been frequently reported on in recent years. Poor internet connectivity is one cause of this. In urban areas, students often benefit from high-speed broadband connections, allowing them to easily participate in online lessons, access digital resources, and complete assignments without interruptions. In contrast, many rural areas suffer from slow or unreliable internet connections, making it difficult for students to fully engage in digital learning. Rural households are more likely to be in areas where broadband speeds are inadequate, or where fibre-optic networks are unavailable, further deepening the divide. 

In addition to this, urban schools, especially in more affluent areas, tend to have better ICT infrastructure that ranges from modern computer labs and interactive whiteboards to sophisticated LMS. These schools can more easily integrate technology into their curriculums and provide students with the tools needed to thrive in a digital world. In rural areas, however, schools often face funding limitations that make it difficult to acquire and maintain up-to-date technology. This can result in students having less exposure to ICT tools, limiting their digital literacy and preparedness for a technology-driven future.

Building the infrastructure necessary for ICT in education is more than just providing devices. It includes installing reliable networks, setting up secure digital environments, and ensuring ongoing technical support - something we’re experts at here at Novatia. We’re proud to have worked on over 200 school build projects, providing scalable and sustainable solutions that ensure your schools are future-proofed for any technological changes to come. You can check out some of our work here. 

Improve digital accessibility and inclusion

It’s no secret that SEND students often face numerous barriers in the classroom. 

Digital Accessibility, a core Standard within the DfE Digital Technology Standards, refers to the ability of people with disabilities/impairments to independently consume and/or interact with digital applications and content. 

In 2020, WebAIM analysed one million home pages for accessibility issues and found the following:

• 98.1% of home pages with at least one WCAG 2.0 failure
• 60.9 average number of errors per home page

Issues such as missing image alt text and missing document language can render digital platforms unusable for those with disabilities/impairments - this needs to change to ensure all students get equal access to learning materials.

Alongside improving digital accessibility, there are many other ways schools can shape their ICT strategies to make learning for SEND students more fruitful. Emerging tech, such as AR and VR, helps provide new opportunities for students with disabilities, allowing them to participate in experiences that might otherwise be inaccessible. For instance, through VR headsets and technology students with mobility issues can experience the thrill of climbing Mount Everest in a virtual environment. Integrating tech solutions like this into schools’ digital strategies is a vital step towards promoting digital accessibility and inclusion for all students.

Novatia - making ICT more accessible for all

With years of extensive experience in the education sector, we are well-equipped in developing customisable ICT strategies for schools and MATs that tailor to unique needs and requirements. This can be demonstrated in our recent work at Hill View School - a new 5-16 co-educational special free school, established within The Oak Partnership Trust, to cater to the unique needs of children with speech, language, communication and social, emotional and mental health difficulties. 

To meet these specific needs and requirements, we understood the necessity for progressive technology that integrated seamlessly with school infrastructure. 

Through constructive collaboration with main contractor, Novatia assisted in:

• Effective integration of digital technologies into the physical design of the teaching and learning spaces, enabling the interactive boards in the classrooms and portable devices in the outdoor learning spaces to connect to the wireless networks across the entire site.
• Sourcing, configuring, installing and integrating the active network including Network Switches and Wi-Fi with a full suite of cloud management capabilities.
• Developing a model classroom that allowed all stakeholders to see how the vision behind the school was coming to life through the new building. This meant that the senior leadership team and teachers could get hands-on with the classroom technology and validate that it served the teaching and learning needs.

We’re passionate about making digital tools and infrastructure more accessible to all. If you need support improving ICT accessibility in your education institution, get in touch with Novatia today.