Scottish Attainment Challenge 2022 to 2023 - 2025 to 2026: equality impact assessment

Digital Equity

The cost of learning in lockdown (12), a June 2020 report by Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland (CPAG) showed that families with access to resources such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams and Show my Homework amongst others, were grateful for the continued tasks, ideas, learning and support from schools that this enabled.

However, some pupils may be disadvantaged in comparison to their peers through not having access to digital devices, particularly younger children who are more likely to have to share devices with other members of the household. Through accessing the internet, pupils are able to access learning resources, as well as interact with school staff and peers. This is applicable to the period of school closures from March 2020, and will continue to apply if blended learning were to be introduced. In 2018, the ONS reported that 12% of those aged between 11 and 18 years in the UK (700,000) reported having no internet access at home from a computer or tablet, while a further 60,000 reported having no home internet access at all (13).

To help ensure as many children and young people as possible were able to connect with their schools, continue their learning, access support and engage with their peers, Scottish Government invested £25m during 2020/21 that will provide devices for over 72,000 learners and connectivity for over 14,000 learners across Scotland. We have now committed to ensuring that every school-aged child in Scotland has access to an appropriate device and connectivity to support their learning by the end of this parliament. We are working closely with local authority partners to deliver this.