Tech-Enabled Alternative Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth with Kate Redford and Andrew Swindell
When conflict, displacement, economic challenges, and climate shocks disrupt schooling, maintaining opportunities to learn becomes both urgent and extraordinarily difficult. Technology can help connect learners with teachers, resources, and one another. But what does it take for these approaches to work when electricity is unreliable, connectivity is limited, and communities face ongoing insecurity? Who gains access, and who risks being left further behind?
In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, we discuss the recent report Tech-Enabled Alternative Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth (OOSCY): Evidence from Southeast Asia, alongside our guest's ongoing work on educational technology (EdTech) for Education in Emergencies (EiE). The conversation explores how technology can support alternative pathways to learning, what teachers and learners need to use it meaningfully, and how approaches must adapt across diverse crisis contexts. We’ll consider practical challenges involving infrastructure, language, safety, and teacher support alongside deeper questions about equity and sustainability. How can governments and their partners connect immediate responses with stronger education systems? And how can evidence guide investments that expand access to quality, inclusive learning for those hardest to reach? Watch or listen to this episode and find out.
Resources:
Citations:
***Swindell, A., & Radford, K. (2026). Tech-Enabled Alternative Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth (OOSCY): Evidence from Southeast Asia. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.1191. Available at https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/63QAD5XV.
Radford, K., Jetten, A., Ramesh Vasudevan, S., Hayat, A., Emerusenge, A. P., Rabi, A., Friese, L., & Mazari, H. (2026). EdTech for Education in Emergencies: A Guidance Document for Education Specialists. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.1161. Available at https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/T22ZEING.
Taylor, J., & Swindell, A. (2026). Curated Resource List: Using EdTech in Crisis-Affected Settings. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.1226. Available at https://docs.edtechhub.org/lib/9Z7JTIFN.
Episode #279 Guests:
Kate Radford has 20+ years of experience in education, technology, and international development. Since 2010, she has specialised in scaling multi-stakeholder innovations to tackle the global learning crisis. At EdTech Hub (see https://edtechhub.org/our-team/), she supports ministries of education and education in emergencies actors develop and evaluate tech-enabled education programmes. She previously founded Can't Wait to Learn, an award-winning EdTech program for children affected by conflict, and has private sector technology and manufacturing experience. Kate has a BA in Germanic Studies and European Politics and a master's degree in developmental studies both from the University of Melbourne. She can be contacted at: kate.radford@edtechhub.org and at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-radford-9336a1b3/.
Andrew Swindell is a Specialist at EdTech Hub (see https://edtechhub.org/our-team/), providing senior-level policy, research, and technical guidance to Ministries of Education and non-governmental partners on technology-enabled learning systems. In this role, he has led multi-country research examining how EdTech can improve outcomes for out-of-school children and youth (OOSCY) across Southeast Asia, and national secondary-level AI curriculum design research for the GPE Tech4Ed initiative in Tajikistan. Andrew holds a PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education from UCLA and has worked in both online and in-person settings across the USA, Bangladesh, Liberia, Thailand, and Myanmar, specializing in emergency and forced migration contexts. He has published on topics like AI, digital literacy, education in emergencies, and curriculum studies in both popular and academic outlets, demonstrating an ability to convey rigorous evidence-based findings and complex ideas in varied formats for different audiences. He previously taught K-12 in Thailand and Myanmar, and held roles with the U.S. Department of State, UNESCO, and the PAL Network. He can be contacted at andrew.swindell@edtechhub.org and at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swindellandrew/. Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=W9EAKiYAAAAJ&hl=en