Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 30 October 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29611 by Jenny Gilruth on 20 September 2024, what evaluation it has carried out regarding the impact on educational performance of providing around 280,000 free digital devices and 14,000 connectivity packages to learners, and for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer.
The Scottish Government provision of devices and connectivity packages during the pandemic was an emergency response to ensure disadvantaged learners could remain in contact with schools, teachers and learning during the periods when schools were closed.
The remainder of the devices have been funded, procured and distributed by local authorities themselves, in line with local learning strategies. Local authorities are ultimately responsible for delivery of education, including decisions around how, when and why to deploy any technology. Therefore, it would be for local authorities to undertake any evaluation of local device rollout programmes.