See Education for our current programmes and research on EdTech.

Why did we do this?

In recent years there has been an explosion in the number of education technology (edtech) innovations available to teachers and young people, both inside and outside the classroom. Edtech has the potential to change every aspect of education - from teaching and learning to assessment and collaboration. But too often in the past, technologies have been overhyped, and implemented in costly programmes unsupported by evidence. We aimed to grow the evidence base and make it understandable, to help people understand how to make the most of edtech, and to support innovative organisations who share our values.

All young people and teachers could benefit from these new technologies, which could also help reduce the attainment gap and support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. And it would also benefit society and the economy as a whole.

What did we do?

We developed the programme with support from our partners the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). Together, we looked at edtech from a number of angles: our work spanned research, investments and practical programmes.

• Remote Tutoring - a large-scale randomised control trial, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation and working with Third Space Learning, exploring the potential of remote one-to-one tuition to support primary age children at risk of underachievement in mathematics.
• Flipped Learning - a study carried out with NFER exploring how a 'flipped' approach to learning - using online instructional videos to move learning new content out of the classroom - can help teachers and pupils.
• The Visible Classroom - a project with the University of Melbourne and Ai Media UK exploring the potential of real time captioning and transcripts of lessons to support teachers’ professional development.
• Our Impact Investment Fund has invested in a number of edtech organisations as part of its mission to support innovations which improve educational attainment, employability and overall well-being of young people in the UK. In total, we have invested in five innovative organisations.

Key reports​

• Decoding Learning explored the proof, promise, and potential of using digital technologies to improve learning.
• Flipped Learning provided research and guidance on the use of digital video to 'flip' classrooms and free time for teachers to coach and actively involve their students in learning.