10 - Edtech and Equity in Panama: Mobile Technology for Levelling the Learning Playing Field

Summary

Introduction

The Republic of Panama, like all of Central America, educates the majority of students in the public school system. In recent years, gaps in academic achievement between students attending public and private schools have become increasingly apparent and are reflected in national and international learning outcome evaluations. Panama's national standardized testing programme, the annual CRECER evaluation, shows clear evidence of this (MEDUCA, 2019), and similar tendencies appear in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) global Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results (MEDUCA/OECD, 2019). But the bigger problem is the general lack of accessibility to quality education and how this relates to inequality, social mobility and inclusion (Causa and Johansson, 2010; OECD, 2017).

Quality is a complex and subjective concept, especially for education. In this chapter, we use the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) definition presented in the Sustainable Development Goals, which states that ‘quality education specifically entails issues such as appropriate skills development, gender parity, provision of relevant school infrastructure, equipment, educational materials and resources, scholarships or teaching force’ (UNESCO, 2022). Education quality issues and trends are not unique to Panama, and scholars are beginning to focus their attention on the numerous inequities associated with the quality of education typically offered in both public and private school systems worldwide. Their conclusions stress that students able to access quality education earlier on in their schooling tend to perform better in most types of evaluations (OECD, 2011, 2019). This, in turn, affects preparation for postsecondary learning opportunities, and, ultimately, options for employment and quality of life. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these disparities for many and threatens the present and future learning of an entire cohort of students.

With the forced school closures of the pandemic, remote learning became the new norm. Governments and schools around the world explored possibilities for incorporating different forms of information and communications technology (ICT), and education technology (edtech) became a familiar concept – as well as a determinant of families’ abilities to access instruction.