Education secretary outlines plans for 'informed marketplace' for edtech

Attendees at the annual BETT show heard of government plans for its £10m innovation fund

A £10m government investment will be used to create a marketplace for education buyers, the education secretary has said at the BETT show.

Speaking in the opening keynote, Damian Hinds said that age-old problems persist in schools and universities in spite of the progress technology has made to tackle them.

"Edtech is now big business here in England - it now has a spend of £450m a year - so we need to make sure that money is being spent effectively," he told the audience.

From this spring, the Department for Education will be "shaping" its edtech strategy, which will include running free roadshows around England, and rolling out a network of tech demonstrators to schools and colleges, as well as a single "education destination" for edtech products and services.

Hinds spoke of the problems that teachers and schools face when presented with a range of unfamiliar products and brands, and the need for a single hub to accommodate those needs.

"There can be an understandable nervousness with school sometimes, dealing with brands and names they are not familiar with, and wondering if they'll be around in a number of years' time," he said.

"Then there is the commitment that when you sign up for a particular piece of software, it can feel like you're locked in, and that can make people stick with things longer than they would have anticipated.

"But it can also make them more reluctant to take them on in the first place, and that can lead to some wastage - which is a serious issue.

"We need to have an informed marketplace where people can buy with confidence and which makes it more effective and efficient for sellers to market their wares."

Hinds explained that part of this strategy is to use the LendEd platform, where schools can try out products before purchasing them, and if they do buy they are reassured that the companies involved have been vetted.

"I want to make sure that in our education system we are able to make fullest use of this range of opportunities available through edtech," he said.

"I also want to make sure that we are able to be specific in what problems we are trying to solve. In order to drive this forward, we have set aside a £10m innovation fund."

The fund will target 10 problem areas in the education sector, including parental engagement, lesson preparation and plagiarism.

"We must never think about tech for its own sake; it is an enabler and enhancer," Hinds concluded.

"We need an accomplished approach between educators and tech innovators so that we can use those tools to forge a brighter future for our children."