Puttnam speaks out on digitally divided schools

Last week, Lord Puttman voiced his concerns regarding the ‘digital divide’ at an event hosted by the Bristol-based Futurelab research organisation, with a particular focus on access within education. It is easy for those of us familiar with the Internet and ICT-based learning to forget that many in the UK are lacking both the access to these technologies, and the skills necessary to use them, in addition to making the assumption that as software advances, such inequalities will be eroded. Puttman actually suggests that those who already use technology will continue to benefit from new developments, while those left behind will remain at the starting point.

Puttman is keen to point out the skills which schoolchildren can develop through the use of ICT technology, however there is an additional aspect which was mentioned neither in his speech, nor extensively in Futurelab’s accompanying report ‘Beyond the Digital Divide’. This is of the social impact of some students having access to technology, and others being left behind.

Sean Coughlan, an education reporter for the BBC explains that students who use the internet, 3G phones and online social networks are likely to interact with those who use the same platforms, and this take place in an increasingly insular fashion. If the desperation of undergraduates when they find themselves without the internet or sufficient phone battery, as well as the digitalisation of many educational resources, is anything to go by, the UK already has one section of the population for whom such advanced technologies are a learning necessity. As (some) schoolchildren are exposed to technology at an increasingly early age, this will have a social impact, creating a divide between those in the playground who have seen the latest YouTube video or participated in last night's MSN conversation, and those who have not. The Futurelab report states that

‘Whilst ICT use is certainly not a pre-requisite to surviving in 21st society, therefore, it is almost certainly an integral element of thriving in 21st century society’.

What should be remembered is that thriving on a social basis is as much a reason to challenge the digital divide as academic discrepancies which can arise.

The Futurelab report itself contains some surprising statistics for a self-proclaimed techno-dependent individual such as myself. Although the UK’s uptake of broadband as been increasing since its introduction, over half of all households in Scotland and Northern Ireland have no internet access at all. However, this can be connected to overall wealth and quality of life, and indeed the richest areas of the UK (the Southwest and London) unsurprisingly have the highest uptake.

As a student who has been lucky enough to have had access to the Internet at home from an early age, I can state that the benefits on an educational (and, not forgetting, on a social level) are immeasurable. Therefore, if the government is serious about its educational targets (such as more students from poorer backgrounds going to University), then it needs to make sure that access to ICT platforms is not a dividing line. Investment into technology at schools is not enough- access at home, and the development of life-long skills, also needs attention. Lord Puttman’s comments on the subject are a welcome sign that this issue is being taken seriously by the political elite- after all, if they are going to be able to use Blackberries in Parliament, shouldn’t the future generation get in on the action as well?

KC