Abstract

The sudden switch to learning exclusively at home during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the extent of low levels of digital inclusion for many low-income and socially disadvantaged families and children in Australia. Many students and families struggled with access to, and the affordability of, devices and data, along with having the required digital skills and mentoring to learn at home. The Australian Government recognises that “socially vulnerable children are over-represented among the group of students who are educationally vulnerable” and the Australian Digital Inclusion Index shows there is a “substantial digital divide between richer and poorer Australians” (Thomas J, Barraket J, Wilson C, Cook K, Louie Y, Holcombe-James I, Ewing S, MacDonald T, Measuring Australia’s digital divide: the Australian digital inclusion index 2018. RMIT University, for Telstra, Melbourne, 2018). This combination of digital and social disadvantage has far-reaching consequences for the educational outcomes of children from low-income families in Australia. Additionally, as social, government, education and commercial services move rapidly towards ‘digital by default,’ digital inclusion and in particular, digital ability, are critical for social and economic participation in society (Dezuanni M, Allan C, Pittsworth stories: Developing a social living lab for digital participation in a rural Australian community. In: Dezuanni M, Foth M, Mallan K, Hughes H (eds) Digital participation through social living labs –valuing local knowledge, enhancing engagement. Chandos Publishing, Cambridge, pp 141–171, 2018; Al-Muwil A, Weerakkody V, El-haddadeh R, Dwivedi Y, Inform Syst Front 21(3): 635–659, 2019). This chapter outlines policy, government, industry and community responses to enabling children from low-income families in Australia to learn at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses how such responses can be part of sustainable solutions to the digital inclusion challenges of families that enables all family members to fully participate in society now, and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.