What parents need to know
When Covid forced schools online, UNESCO documented the damage: “unchecked exclusion, staggering inequality, inadvertent harm and learning models that put machines and profit before people.” The world’s largest real-world test of EdTech proved it fails our children.
Full Citation
UNESCO. (2023). An EdTech Tragedy? Educational technologies and school closures in the time of COVID-19. Paris: UNESCO.
Publication Type
Major international investigative report by UNESCO examining the global shift to educational technology during the COVID-19 pandemic
What They Studied
UNESCO investigated how educational technology performed during the largest forced experiment in digital learning in history – the COVID-19 school closures. The report examined outcomes across multiple countries, analyzing equity of access, learning effectiveness, commercial exploitation, and long-term impacts on education systems when schools were forced to rely entirely on digital platforms.
Key Findings
- The global evidence reveals “a more sombre picture” than EdTech advocates had promised
- UNESCO documented “the ways unprecedented educational dependence on technology often resulted in unchecked exclusion, staggering inequality, inadvertent harm and the elevation of learning models that put machines and profit before people”
- Rather than the promised democratization of education, digital learning during COVID exposed and often exacerbated existing inequalities
- Commercial EdTech companies profited significantly while educational outcomes deteriorated
- The crisis revealed fundamental weaknesses in the assumption that technology can effectively replace or significantly enhance traditional teaching methods
- Many students were excluded entirely from education due to lack of access to devices or reliable internet
- The quality of remote learning fell far short of in-person instruction, with lasting impacts on student achievement
