In an increasingly digitised world, the promise of educational technology (EdTech) for displaced learners has never felt more urgent or precarious.

My current research project, Educational Support Systems for Refugees: Understanding Resilience and Fragility in Mobile Learning Models for Child Refugees, explores how mobile education platforms can be integrated with lifelong learning models to support access to equitable, flexible, and context-sensitive learning for young refugees. It’s an area filled with innovation and optimism, but one that also demands critical reflection.

At the heart of this inquiry is a simple but essential question: Are we solving the right problem?

Techno-Solutionism

Techno-solutionism, a term popularised by Morozov (2013), describes the tendency to frame complex social problems, like education in emergencies, as if they can be neatly fixed with the right app, platform, or AI-powered dashboard. This illusion is particularly problematic when applied to refugee education, where learners face compounded vulnerabilities: displacement, trauma, poverty, disrupted schooling, and limited access to digital infrastructure.

We’ve seen it before: tablets dropped into learning centres without a stable power supply, apps designed in tech hubs. Still, they rolled out in refugee camps with minimal connectivity, and platforms that assume high digital literacy and stable housing when neither is present. Vass (2021) rightly warns that such interventions can reframe the issue entirely, shifting attention away from structural inequalities and toward technological ‘fixes’ that oversimplify and depoliticise education crises.

The real risk isn’t just failed implementation. It’s diverting energy and resources away from policy-level changes, long-term funding strategies, and pedagogical approaches rooted in inclusion, culture, and care.

Technology as a Tool, Not a Cure

In my project, I aim to sidestep the techno-utopian narrative by weaving a critical lens into every design and analysis stage. I’m asking not just what mobile learning can do but also what it requires from learners, communities, and the systems around them.

  • Whose voices are shaping the design of EdTech for refugees?
  • What assumptions are embedded in the technologies we promote?
  • What human, digital, and political infrastructures are necessary for these tools to genuinely support learning?

Mobile platforms hold potential not because they are scalable or sleek, but because they offer a possible bridge. When rooted in local knowledge and supported by sustainable policy, they can provide continuity and adaptiveness in education systems otherwise stretched to their limits. However, these tools must be co-designed and context-aware. Otherwise, they risk reinforcing exclusion (Moser-Mercer et al., 2023, p. 9).

Resisting the Temptation of the “Quick Fix”

Throughout the KIPP journey, I’ve reflected on how my background in rural Ireland, urban South London classrooms, and international school contexts has exposed me to the vast inequality in global education. My blog reflections have explored the role of lifelong learning as a lifeline for displaced learners, and the tension between digital promise and digital precarity.

I aim to take these reflections further by examining the fragility and resilience of mobile learning initiatives amidst funding cuts and political volatility. Inspired by the work of Dryden-Peterson (2017), UNESCO (2021), and Shohel (2020), the project investigates how EdTech can be harnessed without succumbing to techno-solutionism. It also engages with futures thinking – specifically Voros’ Futures Cone (2003) – to consider probable outcomes and preferable ones.

Programmes like UNICEF’s Learning Passport and Rumie’s LearnCloud show promise, but often struggle with localisation and sustainability (UNICEF, 2025). As recent reports from UNHCR (2023) and IOM (2024) highlight, funding fragility puts many such initiatives at risk of collapse.

This is why my research aims to contribute to academic discourse and policy conversations about building more robust, inclusive, and adaptable education systems for refugee children.

Conclusion

As I work on this project more deeply, I will resist the allure of the “quick fix.” EdTech can support learning, but only when embedded within broader frameworks of inclusion, justice, and local agency.

UNESCO’s (2021) Reimagining Our Futures Together calls for a new social contract in education, grounded in solidarity and collective responsibility. This resonates deeply with my stance. If we are to support children displaced by conflict, climate, or crisis, then we must ensure that their learning journeys are not only digitally enabled but also dignified, democratic, and deeply human.

References
Techno-Solutionism / Shane Ahearne - Education Futures by is licensed under a