An unquestionably positive step forward: distance education

UN Chronicle, Dec, 2003 by Judith Adler Hellman

If face-to-face instruction is a more effective way of reaching (and retaining) students, particularly the most marginalized, then planners at some point may have to set aside their romance with technological solutions and return to the basic task of building a corps of qualified and dedicated teachers who can reach those, according to signs we already see, who will inevitably be left behind in the computer revolution.

A presently conceived, the demotion of the teacher to an "equipment monitor" who throws the switch to bring someone "better informed", or "more expert" or "more entertaining" into the classroom represents a deskilling of the profession at a time when teachers everywhere, particularly in developing countries, are suffering a decline in prestige and respect in their communities, not to mention a drop in real wages. Obviously this problem can only be exacerbated by the use of material generated in the industrialized countries. Thus, deskilling of teachers is a social cost that must be taken into account when determining the appropriate disbursal of funds for education in developing countries.

For more information, refer to the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) report, "The Riddle of Distance Education: Promise, Problems and Application for Development", Technology, Business and Society Programme Paper Number 9, June 2003.

Judith Adler Hellman is professor of Political and Social Science at York University (Toronto), and editor of the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She has written articles on new social movements, European feminism, international migration and political transitions in Latin America.