UNESCO's 2023 GEM Report Insights and Conclusions

Education is the key to a better life for every child and the foundation of every strong society – but far too many children are still being left behind. To realize all our development goals, we need every child in school and learning.

Anthony Lake

Executive Director, UNICEF

The 2023 GEM Report is a UNESCO periodical research publication, focused on education quality around the world.

The acronym "GEM" stands for Global Education Monitoring and perfectly underlines the main scope of those publications.

It provides a mid-term assessment of progress towards SDG4 goals, overwatches the trends, pain points, and brings to light overlooked issues linked with education systems around the world.

It is also divided into topical sections.

UNESCO’s 2023 GEM Report and 200 peer country profiles on technology and education were launched in July of 2023.

It was released along with a #TechOnOurTerms campaign, calling for decisions about technology in education to prioritize learner needs after assessment of whether its application would be appropriate, equitable, evidence-based, and sustainable.

Let’s face the facts:

today’s technology evolves at breakneck speed.

It often results in bitter divisions among educators and institutions on its role in future education. The 2023 GEM Report on Technology and Education ‘A tool on whose terms?’ explores those issues focusing on aspects like:

• Access, equity, and inclusion
• Quality
• Technology advancement
• System management
  

As a School.game project we take those matters very seriously.

After all, School.game exists to support safe and beneficial digital transformation in education both for teachers and students instead of selling particular products.

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Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4 or Global Goal 4) is a part of the 17 goals established by the United Nations in September 2015.

It revolves mostly around inclusive and equitable quality education and promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The article below revolves around the observation, stated in the Incheon Declaration, that the achievement of SDG 4 goals is dependent on opportunities and challenges posed by:

• the ongoing development of technology
• responsible implementation in education systems, etc.

To put it simply, SDG 4 aims to provide children and young people with quality education and easier access to learning opportunities.

When it comes to technology – it appears in six out of the ten targets in the fourth Sustainable Development Goal on education.

It is a major component in acquiring knowledge and developing valuable skills in the learning environments of the future.

SDG 4 has seven main outcome targets:

1. Free primary and secondary education,
2. Equal access to quality pre-primary education,
3. Affordable technical, vocational, and higher education,
4. Increased the number of people with relevant skills for financial success,
5. Elimination of all discrimination in education,
6. Universal literacy and numeracy,
7. Education for sustainable development and global citizenship.

Built on the legacy of Jomtien and Dakar resolutions, the Incheon Declaration for Education 2030 is a historic commitment declaration undertaken by over 1,600 participants from 160 countries.

The document was created during the 2015 World Education Forum, in Incheon, Republic of Korea.

It has been officially signed and approved by over 120 Ministers, heads and members of delegations, heads of agencies, and officials of multilateral and bilateral organizations.

It is worth mentioning that it was also signed by many representatives of civil society, including teaching profession, youth, and the private sector as well.

Co-signed by the most renowned organizations like UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank, UNFPA, UNDP, UN Women, and UNHCR, the Incheon Declaration sets out a new vision for the education systems in the upcoming years through actionable frameworks.

Its main scope is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for children, youth, and adults while promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The Incheon Declaration signees agreed in 2015 to:

• Collectively accomplish all of the SDG4 education targets,
• Strengthen international cooperation across the world of education,
• Provide additional financing to push forward progress on SDG4-Education 2030,
• Work on good governance and citizen-led accountability in education,
• Focus on bold, innovative, and sustainable actions.

• SDG 4 (Sustainable Development Goal 4) was announced by UNESCO in 2015, and it aims to provide children and young people with quality learning opportunities, with an emphasis on the role of technology.
• The Incheon Declaration for Education 2030, signed in 2015 by multiple countries and institutions all around the world, provides actionable frameworks for SDG4 goals realization.
• The 2023 GEM Report on Technology and Education provides a mid-term assessment of progress towards SDG4 goals.

Technology should not be viewed as the solution, but as a supportive tool in overcoming certain barriers to education access

2023 GEM report

According to the 2023 GEM Report, the adoption of digital technology has resulted in many changes in education and learning, yet it is debatable whether technology transforms education as much as many sources claim.

Good and impartial evidence on the impact of education technology is in short supply.

1. A Lot of the Evidence Comes from Those Trying to Create and Sell It

Evaluations of what works best for the education industry are limited in geographical, subject, and durational scope, and can often obscure the role of various pedagogical factors in influencing outcomes.

Most evidence comes from the richest countries.

In the United Kingdom, only 7% of education technology companies had conducted randomized controlled trials, and 12% had used third-party certification.

For example, a survey of teachers and administrators in 17 US states showed that only 11% requested peer-reviewed evidence before adoption.

Another issue is that companies providing technology in education are also advising decision-makers.

For example, Google has an estimated 70% market share in primary education technology in the Netherlands.

Intel is no different here.

Implementing artificial intelligence (AI) curricula in India for 22,000 schools with the Central Board for Secondary Education is visibly influential.

The same goes for Poland and the Republic of Korea where the national AI curriculum is based on Intel’s AI for Youth program.

UNESCO’s 2023 GEM Report states, however, that systematic and comprehensive reviews over the past two decades on the effects of the use of technology on learning generally find small to medium positive effects on learning outcomes compared to traditional.

For instance, three recent meta-analyses, which reviewed a total of 272 studies at various education levels and in various countries, found an average positive impact of medium size.

However, evaluations sometimes lack a control group.

This makes it difficult to assess the impact of technology use compared to the same setting with a different medium of teaching or learning and to attribute any positive effects to technology rather than other factors, such as added instruction, more resources, or additional teacher support.

At the same time, the 2023 GEM Report underlines the fact that the set of basic skills that young people are expected to learn in school has recently expanded.

Higher education is the subsector with the highest rate of digital technology adoption, with online management platforms replacing some campuses.

On top of that, the education industry experienced a massive increase in the use of data analytics and management.

Conclusions:

• Technology in education requires independent in-depth analyses and awareness.
• The lack of quality data on the technology impact doesn’t stop the modernization of education.
• Entrusted and reliable ed-tech providers' influence should be regulated or controlled to minimize lobbying risks.

2. Technology Offers an Education Lifeline for Millions but Excludes Many More.

According to the 2023 GEM Report on Technology and Education, the right to education is increasingly synonymous with the right to meaningful connectivity, yet access is unequal.

Globally, only 40% of primary, 50% of lower secondary, and 65% of upper secondary schools are connected to the Internet.

While it is a fact that online learning stopped education from melting down during COVID-19, it also failed to reach at least half a billion students out of a potential billion. (31% of students worldwide and 72% of the poorest).

It is no secret that technology evolves faster than it is possible to evaluate it.

On one hand, any new digital solutions with universal design have opened opportunities for learners with disabilities.

About 87% of visually impaired adults indicated that accessible technology devices were replacing traditional assistive tools.

On the other hand, UNESCO’s Technology in Education Report also underlines the fact that education technology products change every 36 months, on average.

It is undeniably a big problem regarding finances and knowledge access in education systems worldwide.

Conclusions:

• To stay up to date with modernization it is important to invest in long-lasting and sustainable technologies and tools.
• Accessibility and cross-platform universality should be a part of the requirements regarding newly implemented ed-tech solutions.
• Multi-purpose of adopted tools for digital education is future-proofed.

3. The Fast Pace of Technological Change is Putting Strain on Education Systems

Multiple countries are starting to define the digital skills they want to prioritize.

Globally, 54% of countries have digital skill standards but often these have been defined by non-state, mostly commercial actors.

According to the 2023 GEM Report, many students do not have much chance to practice with digital technology in schools.

Even in the world’s richest countries, for example, only about 10% of 15-year-old students use digital devices for more than an hour per week in mathematics and science.

Moreover, in many schools, teachers often feel unprepared for digital literacy and lack confidence in teaching with technology.

Only half of countries have standards for developing teacher ICT skills. While 5% of ransomware attacks target education, few teacher training programs cover cybersecurity.

Various issues impede the potential of digital data in education management.

A recent survey among UK universities found that 43% had trouble linking data systems. Many countries also lack capacity – just over half of countries use student identification numbers.

Countries that do invest in data systems struggle with their maintenance and updates.

Conclusions:

• Data management skills and tools are becoming essential in education systems worldwide.
• Technology is still overlooked in education and often needs an upgrade.
• Teachers require cybersecurity training programs – they feel unprepared but also need to be safe.

4. Technology is Often Bought to Plug a Gap, with No View to the Long-term Costs

According to the 2023 GEM Report, embedding technology into learning processes has risks of its own.

It can narrow learning priorities to those areas served best by the most marketed and accessible technological products.

A large review of research focusing on the effectiveness of online and blended learning in schools found that many studies failed to report on all pedagogical elements, suggesting authors were:

‘digital enthusiasts who were less enthusiastic about pedagogy’.

Moreover, the content of learning applications may not be focused on learning objectives.

In the United Kingdom, a quarter of all commercial applications labeled as educational on the Google Play Store and the same share of the most popular mathematics applications in both the Apple and Google Play Stores did not include any explicit learning content.

The cost of moving to basic digital learning in low-income countries and connecting all schools to the internet in lower-middle-income countries would add 50% to their current financing gap for achieving national SDG 4 targets.

On top of that, UNESCO’s 2023 GEM Report states that money is not always well spent – around two-thirds of education software licenses were unused in the United States.

Conclusions:

• Technology investments are often driven by financial reasons or personal opinions instead of student welfare.
• Commercial applications labeled as educational often do not include any explicit learning content.
• Education software licenses are often unused and lack a proper value-to-money ratio.

5. Online Content has Grown Without Enough Regulation of Quality Control or Diversity.

As the 2023 GEM Report states, nearly 90% of the content in higher education repositories with open education resource collections was created only in Europe and Northern America.

Moreover, almost 92% of the content in the OER Commons global library is in English which excludes many students around the world.

Higher education is adopting digital technology the fastest and being transformed by it the most.

Over 220 million students were attending massive open online courses (MOOCs) in 2021.

However digital platforms challenge universities’ role and pose regulatory and ethical challenges, for instance, related to exclusive subscription deals and student and personnel data.

Unfortunately, according to the 2023 GEM report, (MOOCs) mainly benefit educated learners and those from richer countries.

Conclusions:

• Content in higher education repositories with open education resource collections is being created mainly in Europe and Northern America, narrowing the discourse.
• Current online education paths benefit mostly students from developed and richer countries.
• Technology in education requires remodeling or adopting modern, fair, and more equitable tools.

6. Technology in Education Has a Detrimental Impact if Inappropriate or Excessive.

Large-scale international assessment data, such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) mentioned in the 2023 GEM Report, suggest a negative link between excessive ICT use in classrooms and student performance.

Mere proximity to a mobile device was found to distract students and to hurt learning in 14 countries, yet less than one in four have banned smartphone use in schools.

One major issue that also needs to be addressed is children’s data exposition online.

According to the 2023 GEM Report, only 16% of countries explicitly guarantee data privacy in education by law.

One analysis found that 89% of 163 education technology products recommended during the pandemic could survey children.

Further, 39 of 42 governments providing online education during the pandemic fostered uses that risked or infringed on children’s rights.

Moreover, according to 2023 GEM Report findings, technology use beyond a moderate threshold was associated with diminishing academic gains in an analysis of the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment data.

A meta-analysis of research in 2008–17 across 14 countries found a negative effect of mobile phones on academic performance.

In Switzerland, secondary school children sustained their learning progress better than primary schoolgoers in online learning.

Conclusions:

• Children’s data exposition online is a big issue today. Only a few countries around the world explicitly guarantee data privacy in education by law.
• Technology use beyond a moderate threshold is associated with diminishing academic gains.
• The future of schooling should be based on safe technology that allows for regulation and stronger parental control.

7. Modernization of Education Requires Empathy, Awareness, and a Clear Purpose.

According to the 2023 GEM Report on Technology in Education, digitization brings small to medium-sized positive effects to some types of learning.

A review of 23 mathematics applications used at the primary level showed that they focused on drill and practice rather than advanced skills.

To put it simply:

Institutions implementing new technologies should focus on learning outcomes, not on digital inputs.

In Peru, when over 1 million laptops were distributed without being incorporated into pedagogy, learning did not improve.

In the United States, an analysis of over 2 million students found that learning gaps widened when instruction was exclusively remote.

Moreover, new ed-tech solutions do not need to be advanced to be effective.

In China, high-quality recordings of lessons delivered to 100 million rural students improved student outcomes by 32% and reduced urban-rural earning gaps by 38%.

A simple Teachers Portal in Bangladesh has over 600,000 active users.

Examples supporting this claim also include the National Academic Digital Library of Ethiopia, the National Digital Library of India, and many more.

One estimate of the CO2 emissions that could be saved by extending the lifespan of all laptops in the European Union by a year found it would be equivalent to taking almost 1 million cars off the road.

Conclusions:

• The true value of new ed-tech tools and solutions implemented lies in clear purpose, high quality, and value-over-time factors.
• The future of schooling revolves around learning outcomes, not digital inputs or advanced systems.

While UNESCO’s 2023 GEM Report points out multiple issues regarding technology in education it also stresses the importance of higher levels of digital literacy among students worldwide.

After all, technology can facilitate teaching and learning processes with the right contextualization and integrated support.

According to the 2023 GEM Report, digital game-based applications improved cognitive and behavioral outcomes in primary and secondary mathematics in 43 studies published in 2008–19.

For example, sending caregivers regular nudges can positively influence learning outcomes.

During COVID-19, Botswana’s education ministry provided parents and educators with over-the-phone tutoring for numeracy concepts, leading to learning outcome improvements.

Personalization and Software Adaptation can Target Support to Students

The 2023 GEM Report points out that there is a general trend towards enhancing personalization features that adapt or adjust to student learning levels.

Personalized adaptive software generates analytics that can help teachers:

• track student progress,
• identify error patterns,
• provide differentiated opportunities for practice,
• make feedback more specific,
• and reduce teacher workload on routine tasks.
  
  

Personalization software can monitor student progress and provide differentiated practice opportunities and feedback.

Evaluations of the Ei Mindspark software in India documented learning gains in after-school settings and for low-performing students.

The 2023 GEM Report also mentions the Carnegie Learning MATHia software case. This company provides students with one-to-one coaching in mathematics.

A study in 147 schools across 7 states showed that its implementation improved the median upper secondary school student’s performance by approximately eight percentile points.

A 2021 study based on longitudinal data from 100,000 students in the US state of Florida found that using MATHia in lower secondary school led to better outcomes in algebra, especially for weaker students.

Gamification Supports Students’ Development

According to the 2023 GEM Report, the use of game-based learning in education has been found to improve academic and non-academic skills by increasing learners' interaction.

Educational games can motivate students to learn and persist in learning for longer durations.

Game-based applications have been used to practice literacy and mathematics skills in low-resource settings.

They have shown positive impacts on knowledge acquisition, cognitive skills, and motivation to study mathematics.

Examples like Kahoot! and GraphoGame have been used in over 20 countries to develop and promote reading fluency and learning in various contexts and domains.

The 2023 GEM Report also states that virtual and augmented reality technologies in games can affect student attitudes toward certain subjects.

Moreover, game-based social and emotional learning programs have been found to improve interpersonal communication and skills, including emotional regulation and empathy, compared to control groups.

The same goes for the usage of simulated environments or digital three-dimensional models of workplaces is becoming increasingly popular in technical and vocational education and training institutions as an alternative for or supplement to on-the-job training.

Simulations of real-world scenarios in digital games allow students to role-play, practice prosocial behaviors, and learn decision-making

2023 GEM Report

Collaborative Technologies Foster Communication and Engagement

The use of digital technology can aid collaborative learning, and promote group interaction and peer feedback while facilitating distance learning.

Studies included in the 2023 GEM Report have shown that online discussion forums, wikis, Google Docs, and other cloud-based word-processing platforms have a positive impact on student engagement and performance.

But that’s not all.

Audio and video conferencing tools can also reduce time and space barriers, and virtual learning environments can encourage participation from more vulnerable students.

One of the conclusions stated in UNESCO’s 2023 GEM Report is that collaborative learning pedagogies should be integrated into the teaching process, and a collaborative pedagogical approach has the highest impact on learning outcomes.

The quality of student interaction depends on the pedagogical approach employed by the teacher.

Technology also helps parents engage with their children’s learning.

It provides teachers with several low-cost and convenient ways to communicate up-to-date information to parents about their child’s school progress.

ICT can be used to improve parental knowledge and practices through training, informing and nudging them.

Short, light-touch, nudging interventions involve sending parents regular reminders to engage with their children’s learning using low-cost modalities, such as text messages.

First of all, it is worth noting, that the application of digital technology varies by:

• Community and socioeconomic level,
• Teacher willingness and preparedness,
• Education level,
• Country income.
  
  

Moreover, evidence is mixed on its impact. The short- and long-term costs of using digital technology appear to be significantly underestimated.

The most disadvantaged are typically denied the opportunity to benefit from digital technologies.

While it is a fact that digital technology lowers education access costs for some disadvantaged groups, access to the internet and devices remains highly unequal.

Digital technology also encourages engagement and facilitates collaboration and connections, but an individualized approach to education reduces learners’ opportunities to learn in real-life settings and might harm well-being and privacy.

It is worth mentioning that digital technology reduces the time teachers and students spend on menial tasks, time that can be used in other, educationally more meaningful activities.

In asking ‘ tool onA whose terms?’, the 2023 GEM Report stresses that:

Regulations for technology set outside of the education sector will not necessarily address education’s needs.

This report also underscores the importance of learning to live both with and without digital technology; to take what is needed from an abundance of information but ignore what is not necessary; to let technology support, but never supplant, the human connection on which teaching and learning are based.

The focus should be placed on learning outcomes, not digital inputs.

To help improve learning, digital technology should be not a substitute for but a complement to face-to-face interaction with teachers.

Despite a lack of quality data on the impact of technology, the modernization of the education system continues.

The true value of new educational technology tools and solutions lies in their clear purpose, high quality, and long-term value.

Therefore, the real future of schooling and technology in it revolves around learning outcomes rather than simply integrating digital inputs or advanced systems.

Technology in education must undergo independent and in-depth analyses to ensure effectiveness and awareness of potential drawbacks.

Current online education paths tend to benefit students from developed and wealthier regions, highlighting existing disparities.

The ed-tech solutions, currently in use, require remodeling or switching to more pedagogy-focused, fair, and equitable tools.

Additionally, data management skills and tools are becoming increasingly essential in education systems worldwide.

Furthermore, teachers urgently need cybersecurity training programs as they feel unprepared and vulnerable in this aspect of their profession.

Positive impact is often dependent on strong pedagogical alignment and teacher input.

Evidence on the use and effectiveness of technology shows that beyond affecting individual learning outcomes, it can both facilitate and disrupt fundamental teaching and learning processes.

Attributing conclusive, specific learning outcomes to hardware or software is challenging, but it does not diminish the importance of students’ digital literacy and data management skills – especially regarding privacy and intellectual property.

That is exactly where school.game project comes into play.

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