To ask the Minister of Education to detail what steps are being made to use digital technology to mitigate the disruption to learning caused by temporary school closures as a result of staff absences.

School is clearly the most appropriate setting for our children and young people to learn and they benefit most from face to face teaching in the classroom. While the scale of staff absences due to COVID 19 had placed significant pressure on schools to maintain face-to-face teaching, remote learning ensured that our children and young people were able to continue with their education. Remote learning is now only being implemented in exceptional circumstances.

My Department carries out a weekly survey to assess the level of remote learning, and from the responses received each week, it is encouraging to note that the percentage of schools using remote learning has reduced from 50% in January to 7.34% in week commencing 16 May.

Throughout the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, my Department made a significant investment in the provision of digital technology and IT equipment to enhance remote learning. Almost 25,000 new devices were procured and provided to schools to support, in particular, our most disadvantaged and vulnerable learners.

Schools were informed by the Education Authority (EA) that they could retain these devices for the 2021/22 academic year to provide continued support to disadvantaged and vulnerable children. My Department also invested £1 million during 2021/22 to purchase digital devices for children from more disadvantaged backgrounds. This has been used by the EA to purchase 1,400 iPads, 1,400 Chromebooks and 1,400 Windows Laptops. This investment will continue during the current and future financial years. This significant and ongoing investment will ensure children from poorer backgrounds have improved access to digital devices.

Through C2k, the EA delivers a comprehensive range of digital tools to support teaching and learning. Platforms such as G Suite, MS Teams and Collaborate Ultra are readily available to support learning. As part of the Continuity of Learning programme, additional training was provided to teachers in relation to both the functionality of the platforms and how they are used to improve learning and teaching.

Since 2020, £7m has been allocated to provide devices, enhance broadband, upgrade existing platforms on C2k and procure new applications, including applications to support communications between school and home.