As schools become reliant on sophisticated AI-driven technologies, private corporate influence expands, often unchecked. This book critically examines the societal, ethical, and pedagogic consequences of EdTech on students and advocates for a mechanism of oversight that can govern digitisation through the plethora of digital (and often commercial) products and systems being set up and increasingly influencing education to ensure children’s safety and equal opportunities.

Each chapter aims to provide a critical response to several simple (but often big and open) questions.

• Introduction: Why a book about EdTech?

From the computer merchants to the data capitalists, the digitisation of education is also becoming platformised in which EdTech capabilities promise a much bigger picture than just enabling blended or digital learning. This introductory chapter provides context and definition of EdTech products, services and the wider socio-technical assemblages that merge digital infrastructures with powerful computing capabilities. 

• Digitising the classroom: What is the problem?

This chapter uses two examples to explore the allure of ‘magic’ that EdTech products promise schools, despite often lacking solid evidence of their effectiveness or clear explanations of their mechanisms. It also discusses intelligent tutoring systems and how algorithms influence decision-making, raising concerns about ‘datafication‘ and ‘dataveillance.’ The chapter argues that these shifts in education, driven by AI and data-heavy technologies, challenge the notion of education as a great equaliser and highlight the complexities of fully digitising education.

• Infrastructure capture: What is the ‘big picture’ of digitising education?

This chapter examines the broader implications of digitising education, from individual products to large-scale socio-technical infrastructures. It highlights how digital education systems are shaped by neoliberal markets, aligning education outcomes directly with industry labour demands. The chapter critiques the growing data capture, the techno-deterministic shaping of students’ career paths, the narrowing of curricula, and the experimental nature of designing futures based solely on data.

• Automation: What are the risks of automating children’s education? 

Key concepts are addressed while this chapter also references research on automation practice in education. The main discussion is around the risks associated with automating education. The chapter also highlights the disconnect between the promises made by companies selling these systems and the reality of their impact.

• Voice: What do children say about the digitised classroom?

Children’s fundamental human rights (to education that helps them develop their personality, enjoy their culture, not be manipulated, exploited, hurt, live in fear…) are the central discussion of Chapter 5. It draws on recent research about children’s perspectives and experiences with digital technologies in schools, emphasising that the digitisation of education is not equally ideal or unanimously viewed as beneficial. Often, students are compelled to use digital tools, which conflicts with their fundamental rights.

• The good intentions of School: Why School matters?

Here, the book examines the purpose of education and the purpose of School, noting that parents and guardians often discuss it in terms of ‘good and bad’ School without clearly defining these concepts. When explored, digitisation is rarely a top priority for parents when selecting schools. School plays a vital role both at an individual and societal level, but governing schools to ensure good education is provided to all children are evolving and it is here that digital technologies are playing an ever greater role. This chapter highlights how education governance has shifted toward an extreme ‘audit’ culture (observed broadly elsewhere), where schools and teachers face accountability measures, amplified by technology, which itself remains unchecked. The chapter also introduces how EdTech reshapes governance and the ways governance can bypass scrutiny of technology providers, leading into the final chapters of the book.

• Governance by distraction: Do the tools of oversight guarantee the benefits of digitising education?

Up to this point, the book has outlined the current state of the digitisation of education, explaining how it occurs and incorporating the perspectives of key stakeholders. Despite the significant role of private EdTech companies—often with unclear business models and data practices—these providers face minimal rigorous scrutiny. While there is increasing attention on how EdTech should be regulated and assessed, this chapter argues that current frameworks and guidelines are more like a distraction than solution. In some ways this results in inadequate and fragmented governance without clear standards imposed on the EdTech sector.

• Licensed to operate: How to fix a fragmented governance of EdTech?

The final chapter explains education governance and examines the ‘audit’ culture affecting schools in the UK and US. It proposes a licensing system for the growing and ever-evolving EdTech market, inspired by two existing models: the audit-based governance of education systems especially in the UK, and the regulatory framework used for the online gambling industry. The chapter outlines a practical approach for implementing a licensing regime to regulate EdTech products and companies.