Capitalising on the DfE’s EdTech Strategy for 2020 and beyond

The General Election will deliver economic and political implications for the UK into 2020 and beyond. Rose Luckin, world-renowned expert on educational technology and artificial intelligence, looks ahead to the New Year and shares her hopes for the sector.

Educational technology (edtech) made significant strides in 2019. The Bett Show, in January, shone a light on the innovation and entrepreneurship taking place, both here and overseas and will do so again next month.

Damian Hinds was the first Secretary of State for Education to acknowledge the potential and role of edtech in the teaching and learning processes with the publication of the Department for Education’s edtech strategy and leadership group. While there was more that could have been included in this, it was a useful start to the discussion about edtech’s merits and uses.

Meanwhile, we also await the outcome of the Commons Education Select Committee’s inquiry into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the potential impact of automation of the workplace, and the skills we will all need to meet that challenge. As special adviser to that inquiry I was fascinated to hear the insights and experiences of sector leaders, and their foresights for the future of the workplace.

“We need better funding of schools to enable teachers to make use of the edtech that is available. The diversity of products out there is huge”

So, what about 2020? What can we expect the New Year to bring to this sector?

- The previous government’s edtech strategy should be honoured by the new administration and taken forward, to ensure we don’t lose the momentum around the discussions taking place in education. All too often in this sector we see changes in Secretaries of State mean that important initiatives are not seen through. We must hope this is not the case here.

- We need better funding of schools to enable teachers to make use of the edtech that is available, whether it is pupil diagnostic and recording tools, help with timetabling, as well as home tuition and improving wellbeing. The diversity of products out there is huge and has the potential to improve teachers’ workload and work-life balance.

- Better training for teachers in the potential uses of edtech. As educators you need to be informed of what works best and how it can help you in your day to day roles. Often a lack of knowledge and confidence can lead to teachers not exploring fully all the possibilities edtech has to offer.

- There has been an explosion in the inclusion of both augmented and virtual reality, and the proliferation of artificial intelligence, in edtech design and development. We must continue to be mindful of the ethical challenges attached to these technologies while embracing the opportunities they offer.

- We need to see increased collaboration with edtech developers and investors from overseas. As director of the EDUCATE programme and my attendance at events globally, I have seen at firsthand how edtech has captured the imaginations of policymakers as far afield as Estonia and Singapore. I am concerned that Brexit will make these collaborations harder and restrict our ability to share ideas and development. It is incumbent on this government to ensure this doesn’t happen. We must not be left behind as the world surges forward.

Author: Rose Luckin, Director, EDUCATE & Professor of Learner Centred Design, Institute of Education, UCL

Originally published December 2019 by EDUCATE/Tes Global