Ei-iE

The 8th Education International (EI) World Congress meeting in Bangkok, Thailand from 21st to 26th July 2019:

(1) Congress expresses its deep concern about:

(i) The attempts by private education technology providers to impose generic learning programmes on schools, further and higher education and research institutions and to introduce cheap substitutes for teachers such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs),

(ii) The development and promotion by technology companies of Artificial Intelligence (AI), including 24-hour surveillance, as a substitute for human agency in pedagogy, research and life skills and the introduction of polarising binary polarities in human knowledge such as machine learning,

(iii) The increasing gathering and manipulation of big data by private technology companies to evaluate students and teachers and undermine privacy,

(iv) Evidence that overuse of technology undermines student well-being,

(v) Exponential increases in the cyberbullying of students and teachers within social media,

(vi) Evidence which shows that there is little relationship between simply introducing learning technologies and enhancing student learning.

(2) Congress recognises:

(i) The positive opportunities provided by ICT to enhance the quality of learning and ICT’s potential to enrich educational activities and communications between educational institutions, educators and learners as set out in EI’s International Protocol on the Use of Information and Communications Technology,

(ii) The importance of digital awareness, literacy and citizenship,

(iii) The central role of teachers and other educators in evaluating and deciding on the appropriate use of ICT in teaching and learning,

(iv) The central role of teachers and other educators in generating innovation in schools, across schools and in local and national educational communities,

(v) The need for teachers in different countries to share safe professional spaces where they can explore and develop best ICT programmes and practice,

(vi) The equality implications of access to ICT for students and teachers,

(vii) The vital need for teachers and other educators to receive and own relevant professional learning and development in ICT,

(viii) The potential for ICT to reduce the workload of teachers and other educators.

(3) Congress mandates the Executive Board:

(i) To support member organisations in engaging with the issues set out in this resolution;

(ii) To consult member organisations on the development of framework guidelines on the use of collection of data and development of technology in education;

(iii) In the interim, to revise its International Protocol on the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Education as the public face of EI on ICT; and

(iv) With member organisations, to identify the campaigning strategies to resist the inappropriate use of technologies. This would include the central role of teachers and other educators in deciding on which, how and when technologies should be used in education and in the development of new democratic digital platforms, open source software and open educational resources.