Fears of new pandemic 'digital divide' in Scots education

An emerging "digital divide" across Scotland could see children from deprived areas suffer the worst impact of the Covid-19 schools shutdown, a new report has warned.

More teaching is being done online during lockdown

Anti-poverty campaigners have called for increased action from the Scottish Government to tackle the educational attainment gap, after the analysis found a continuing divide between young people from the country’s least and most deprived areas.

The report by the Poverty Alliance on behalf of The Robertson Trust found the gap in standards between youngsters from poorer and more affluent areas showed signs of being further compounded by the impact of the pandemic.

The Scottish Government has distributed 23,000 Chromebooks and iPads to low income families classed as digitally excluded in a bid to ensure children do not miss out as more teaching is done online during lockdown.

But today's report warns: "Covid-19 has had a disproportionate impact on single parents and low-income households.

"Emerging evidence shows the negative impacts of Covid-19 on disadvantaged children and young people’s educational outcomes due to the digital divide and a lack of access to educational related resources."

Two in five young people living in the most deprived areas achieve one or more Highers when leaving school (43.5 per cent) compared to almost four in five young people living in the least deprived areas (79.3 per cent), the report also finds.

School leavers living in the most deprived areas in Scotland are four times as likely to be unemployed nine months after the end of the school year, compared with those in better off areas, as of 2018/19.

Poverty Alliance director Peter Kelly said: “This review makes clear that too many of our young people are seeing their life chances restricted by poverty. The educational attainment gap is stark in Scotland and is an injustice that we cannot allow to continue.

“We know that the pandemic is compounding the gap. But we also know the action that we have to take to loosen the grip of poverty on the lives of families across Scotland, and to ensure that every young person in Scotland has access to the same opportunities.”

The Scottish Government has undertaken a range of policies, strategies and initiatives to tackle the attainment gap, including the expansion of early learning and childcare and the Scottish Attainment Challenge.

The review also highlights the importance of initiatives like one-to-one tutoring, mentoring and careers’ education targeted at young people living in more deprived areas, which are currently lacking in Scotland.

Jim McCormick, chief executive of The Robertson Trust, said: "This analysis shines a bright light on the disproportionate impact Covid-19 has had on those already most affected. This is particularly concerning given the clear link between childhood disadvantage, low educational attainment and future poverty.”

The Scottish Government budget for 2021, published last week, allocated more than £127 million in Pupil Equity Funding to support those from more disadvantaged backgrounds, a spokesman for ministers said.

“We agree that closing the poverty-related attainment gap has been made harder by the impact of COVID-19, with lockdown and being out of school affecting vulnerable children and those in deprived areas the hardest,” he added.

“Closing the gap remains the defining mission of this government, and we welcome this analysis of what more can be done to address some of the inequalities that exist among our young people.”

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