No one left behind

ABSTRACT

During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools and exams were shut down globally. The socioeconomic impact of lost learning will have damaging future consequences for recovery, growth, and national security. Despite the rise and scale of the learning technology market, technology-enabled teaching strategies proved ineffective overall at engaging learners with digital information, highlighting a significant deficit in the broader capabilities required to run education remotely for mass cohorts. The inconsistent results of a technology-enabled approach also underlined shortcomings in government ambitions to reform the structure of learning and assessment systems. Some countries proactively “massified” access to digital platforms and assessment technology by centrally coordinating content and development sprints. Across the global south, “low-tech” media and “open-book” assessments enabled learners from the poorest communities to continue studying. Policymakers must now aggregate the best practice that emerged during lockdowns into a collective change programme and plan to deal with future school closures. NGOs and supranational education institutions that transcend national political timescales should be invited play a central role in stewarding radical reform and updating the architecture of teaching and assessment. © 2021 David Baker and Lucy Ellis Published by Elsevier Ltd.