Working towards multi-stakeholder digital technology education responses: EdTech Hub’s research outcomes in displacement settings

• In Event: Bridging the Digital Divide: Advancing Refugee Connected Education through Global Collaboration

Proposal

The global refugee education sector seeks to create the conditions necessary for refugee students to access equitable and quality learning opportunities and, ultimately, be included in national education systems. Digital technologies could play a pivotal role. Technology-enabled catch-up and accelerated education, for example, can provide refugee students with effective and timely support to address learning gaps, easing their transition to formal schooling in host countries. This potential remains largely unrealised, due, in no small part, to the paucity of evidence on the use of EdTech in refugee settings (Al Habsi and Rude 2021; Tauson and Stannard 2018). Even where limited research does exist, research design and dissemination strategies often do not adequately consider the knowledge systems and data and evidence needs of the complex web of stakeholders which characterise both national education systems and the global refugee education sector (Ashlee et al. 2020, Barnes et al. 2024, du Plessis 2016, Hollow and Jefferies 2022). Inclusive and participatory research and evidence dissemination processes are needed to make relevant, accessible knowledge available for use by all stakeholders. Only then will the global research community be well placed to inform the design and execution of the multi-stakeholder approaches necessary to create the policy environments and implementation spaces for evidence-based, feasible education solutions for refugee students.
During the panel, EdTech Hub will present how its participatory, mixed methods research approach, combined with policy development and technical assistance support, continuously engages stakeholders from across national and global education systems. EdTech Hub aims to bridge the gap between research, policy making and implementation to generate fit for purpose evidence which usefully informs government and non-government decision making in refugee and other displacement settings. EdTech Hub will share several recent research projects. As illustration, EdTech Hub has undertaken a mixed methods research series (Mazari et al. 2023; Mazari et al. 2022) exploring the feasibility of using technology for learning continuity during flood responses in Pakistan. The research series brought together teachers, caregivers, government officers, development partners and researchers to capture multi-stakeholder perspectives on appropriate digital education technologies interventions at early, mid and later stages of emergency response. The research series helped inform the Pakistan government’s National Distance Education Strategy’s ‘Access Plan for Education in Emergencies’. This case study also conveys the importance of continued engagement of researchers in rapidly evolving contexts. With a change in government, the Access Plan is no longer being pursued. In response, EdTech Hub is now preparing a revised policy brief, in consultation with the new government and key partners including the Malala Fund and the Citizen’s Foundation. Thus, even as political landscapes change, the design guidance from multiple education system stakeholders captured during EdTech Hub’s 2022 flood response research, will continue to inform government and national response approaches. Further EdTech Hub research results and dissemination and uptake strategies from displacement settings in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will complement the findings from Pakistan.

Author

• Kate Radford, EdTech Hub