Connectivity, tech and timetabling ‘barriers’ to Scottish digital academy

New research – uncovered by Tes Scotland – into what the promised National Digital Academy might look like has found “significant barriers” to realising the pledge, including timetabling and “technological and connectivity restrictions” faced by schools.

The SNP committed before the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections to creating the National Digital Academy to end a “postcode lottery of subject choice”.

However, research commissioned by Education Scotland and released following a Tes Scotland freedom of information request says that “technological restrictions can present a significant barrier to a National Digital Academy, as schools across the country have varying devices, software access and levels of connectivity”.

‘Timetabling could be a nightmare’

One participant in the research said: “Timetabling could be a nightmare – it can be difficult across a couple of local authorities, never mind nationally.”

However, the research also uncovered a demand from students for a wider range of courses.

A total of 2,095 S3-6 students took part, with 41 per cent saying that they wanted “to take a course that was not available to them, with this want increasing with each year group”.

One participant said: ”For Advanced Higher, running classes of 5-10 students is a luxury that can’t be afforded in many schools any longer.”

The most common reason given by students for not being able to take a subject was teacher availability.

The research states that “teacher shortages across Scotland have made subject and course provision particularly challenging”.

It says that “every subject has a shortage of teachers” and although local authorities have attempted to address this by “synchronising timetables and sharing resources”, many classes are “unable to run because there is no teacher to teach the subject”.

It adds: “Even where there is a teacher available, the reliance on individual teachers means that illness or absence can impact course delivery.”

Responding to the research, the EIS union warned it would ”resist any attempts to replace core education currently taught in-person by teachers with remote, online delivery”.

Quality teaching ‘about human, in-person interaction’

EIS national officer for education Andy Harvey said high-quality teaching and learning was “about human, in-person interaction, particularly for learners with [additional learning needs, or ASN]”.

If the government wanted to end the postcode lottery of subject choice, he said it was not a National Digital Academy that was needed but ”additional protected funding to recruit more permanent teachers”.

He also called for the government to address the “real digital deficits in schools” instead of presenting “pipedream proposals for a National Digital Academy”, including access to devices and “decaying digital infrastructure”.

In its 2021 Scottish Parliament election manifesto, the SNP promised to “expand our digital learning offer to develop a National Digital Academy”, drawing from the experience of online learning during the Covid pandemic, that would “allow learners to access the full higher curriculum, regardless of school or location”.

The research into how the pledge might be taken forward – conducted by Sopra Steria Next, which describes itself as “a leader in management and digital transformation consulting” – finds that 21 per cent report already study “subjects delivered outside their school’s standard offering”. By S6, this increases to 36 per cent.

“These subjects were delivered via online materials and live-remote equally often (both 45 per cent), with fewer cases being delivered partly in-person (10 per cent),” the research states.

However, it finds that the largest proportion of pupils thought the ideal way to study a subject was “at school, like I do now”; 36 per cent said this was the way they wanted to study in the future.

A further 28 per cent would like to study at school, but with online materials to support them; 20 per cent opted for “a mix of learning at school and learning online”; and 10 per cent said their ideal way to study would be “at school, but with access to a free online tutor who can give support when it suits me”.

Little support for entirely online learning

Just 7 per cent supported options that involved learning entirely online.

The research says that “many learners were concerned about the level of self-motivation and independent learning skills required for online learning, particularly the self-study option”.

School staff in the research highlighted “how highly motivated and committed” students needed to be to learn online. Even then, they said there “was significant drop-out”.

The research says a National Digital Academy “would allow for a wider range of learner needs to be met, particularly with ‘niche’ subjects where interest is distributed across the country”.

It found that 49 per cent of students were interested in studying national qualifications (such as National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers) not run in their school, followed by National Progression Awards or NPA units (31 per cent) and short courses to support learning in specific aspects of national qualifications (20 per cent).

The subjects students most frequently expressed an interest in were: psychology (19 per cent); sociology (13); Italian (11); philosophy (10); childcare and development (10); engineering science (10); English (9); biology (8); German (8); and fashion and textile technology (8).

As well as giving students a wider range of subjects, the research says “online learning can accommodate learners who struggle with the school environment”.

However, while the research says that learners can “thrive when they are able to learn from home”, there is an acknowledgement that “ASN learners in particular found online learning to be especially challenging during the Covid-19 pandemic”.

These students “outlined concerns about socialising with peers and having effective support from teachers if learning from home”.

Ultimately, it recommends that any National Digital Academy is “flexible”, with various options offered to suit the needs of different students – from pre-recorded lessons to live teaching at set times.

It would need to collaborate with local schools to ensure students’ pastoral needs are met and “must maintain the same standards as traditional schooling”.

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