Education in Climate Emergencies
When considering the response to a climate catastrophe, it’s crucial to consider the most feasible and cost-effective ways to use EdTech.
Using EdTech in climate emergencies has been identified as an area of ’non-knowledge’, where over 90% of studies about education in emergencies are in relation to Covid-19.
To help you make decisions about which EdTech solution to apply to your situation, we have curated a list of research and evidence to help decision-makers plan, prepare and implement EdTech to support education in climate emergencies.
As research in this field grows, we will include more evidence regarding climate emergencies and edtech to our resources.
Essential considerations for EdTech decision-makers in climate emergencies
The findings below on supporting learning continuity in response to climate emergencies are from preliminary insights of a study being conducted by EdTech Hub following the 2022 Pakistan floods. Read the report here.
- Communication is crucial. Communication during the initial phases of emergency can open up avenues for psychosocial support and raise awareness on returning to school — avenues that are at risk of closing as time and circumstances drag on.
- Utilise tools people already use. Share resources through tools communities have access to (WhatsApp and SMS) to support communities without access to flexible learning environments.
- Leverage a variety of approaches. Multimodal approaches can enhance the delivery of psychosocial support and learning in flexible learning environments (including TLCs and community-based learning).
- Learning loss can be remedied. Through multimodal approaches that help identify learning loss and support teaching at the right level, the loss of learning in climate emergencies can be addressed.
“Emergency situations are not the time to field test innovations without regard for pre-existing evidence. In the initial stages of an emergency response, the best approach is to focus on edtech that is already familiar for the users and able to reach high numbers of learners. Decisions regarding the appropriate use of edtech should be made by those that understand the details of the educational context and within the framework of the education cluster and cluster coordinator.”
Discover Research and Evidence
Learning Continuity in Response to Climate Emergencies
Preliminary insights on supporting learning continuity following the 2022 Pakistan floods.
- Pakistan
- Participation and Messaging
- December 2022
Investigating the Impact on Learning Outcomes Through the Use of EdTech During Covid-19
Evidence from an RCT in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
- COVID-19
- Participation and Messaging
- November 2021
EdTech and Emergency Remote Learning: A Systematic Review
This document presents the results of a systematic review of the academic literature in relation to online and remote learning in K–12 education during emergencies. One hundred and twelve studies were identified and included in the analysis.
- COVID-19
- Participation and Messaging
- July 2021
The Power of Girls’ Reading Camps
Exploring the impact of radio lessons, peer learning, and targeted paper-based resources on girls’ remote learning in Kenya
- COVID-19
- Girls’ Education & Technology
- June 2021
Rapid Evidence Review: Education in emergencies
This RER offers insight and evidence that can assist in the development and implementation of effective EdTech interventions across the globe and in emergency contexts.
- October 2020
Rapid Evidence Review: Refugee education
This RER provides a summary of the potential benefits of using technology for education of refugees as well as its risks, limitations and challenges.
- COVID-19
- Participation and Messaging
- June 2020
Back-to-School Campaigns Following Disruptions to Education
Can Proctoring and Other Technologies Be Feasible Alternatives for Facilitating Inclusive School Exams for All in Emergency Contexts?
- COVID-19
- Participation and Messaging
- June 2020
EdTech in the Face of a Pandemic
During the Covid-19 pandemic, education providers faced the double challenge of needing to respond quickly to minimise learning loss, and also build back better systems for the long-term.
- Global
- 2020 – 2021
Online Examinations in Emergency Contexts
Can proctoring and other technologies be feasible alternatives for facilitating inclusive school exams for all in emergency contexts?
- In partnership with UNICEF
- Syria
- Participation and Messaging
- September 2022
Should We Paint all Classroom Roofs White to Improve Learning in Tanzania?
The hypothesis for the research was that classroom temperatures in Tanzania are high, and that a white paint cool roof intervention would help mitigate these high temperatures.
- Tanzania
- May 2022
Further Resources
Within this report, Save the Children offers guidelines on the ethical use of EdTech in emergencies.
The aim of the Handbook is:
- To enhance the quality of educational preparedness, response and recovery;
- To increase access to safe and relevant learning opportunities for all learners, regardless of their age, gender or abilities; and
- To ensure accountability and strong coordination in the provision of education in emergencies through to recovery.
Jusoor’s Refugee Education Program helps Syrian refugee children living in Lebanon integrate back into formal schooling. When schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the refugee program adapted to distance learning by developing Azima, a novel program that used WhatsApp to enable children to keep learning.
Azima had to respond immediately to the emergency context while maintaining high education standards, and it also needed to find an effective way to test and refine its content quickly. To do this, the Azima program adopted an innovative experimental approach called a sandbox. A sandbox model operates in rapid iterative cycles and uses multiple methods to quickly test a program’s assumptions about how it will meet its goals. In this field note, we use Azima as a case study to report on our experience of applying the sandbox model.
We reflect on the benefits and limitations of this novel approach in supporting the use of education technology in a crisis situation.
