Scholarly responses to UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report 2024 Pacific Technology in Education: A tool on whose terms?

Developed in partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the sixth GEM regional report focuses on technology in education in the Pacific. The Pacific is home to a population of 45.5 million scattered across 30 million square kilometers, making it a unique geographic and cultural region, especially as far as the application of ICT in education is concerned. The region's limited and costly infrastructure, particularly in terms of Internet connectivity, hinders the integration of digital technology into education. The regional report investigates the challenges and potentials that technology as a tool and as a process can potentially contribute to across and within countries and education levels. The report on the Pacific covers 17 countries, Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Tokelau and Vanuatu. Extensive background research by local research teams and independent experts informs the regional analysis, including contributions from Catalpa International and the Australian Council for Educational Research. The report is structured around the four key policy areas of the Pacific Regional Education Framework (PacREF) (2018–2030): quality and relevance, learning pathways, student outcomes and wellbeing, and the teaching profession. The report concludes with a series of recommendations, which are aligned to those of the 2023 GEM Report and that have been adapted to the Pacific’s context. This article presents scholarly responses to the 2024 GEM Report on technology in education in the Pacific and discuss how the key findings and recommendations can inform ongoing research and policy development in the region.