Seven innovative remote learning platforms will be working closely with schools in England to find out more about the needs of their learners facing a variety of disadvantages, from socio-economic to special educational needs.

In the first stage of the Edtech R&D programme the EdTech grantees will recruit a minimum of 10 schools each, and will work closely with evaluation delivery partner ImpactED to find out more about the needs of different learners.

EdTech organisations will then be guided through two evaluation cycles, incorporating insights and feedback from school leaders and teachers to inform product developments. These adaptations will enable their platform to better meet the needs of learners and help teachers provide more effective support to their students.

The EdTech grantees will receive:

• Funding to support product development and team participation in the programme;
• Insights and feedback from teachers, students and parents to help develop products based on user needs;
• Targeted recommendations on how to develop their products to better support their disadvantaged students;
• Evaluation support to help build their evidence base.

We’re excited to support remote learning platforms aiming to make a real difference to the needs of disadvantaged students’ remote learning. Check back for updates on the projects and their evaluations. Full insights from the programme will be shared in December 2021.

Pobble

Pobble provides teachers with everything they need to teach, improve and assess writing. Funding will go towards developing features to support EAL learners and to help engage parents who have low literacy levels, such as teacher voice features and more accessible peer-to-peer feedback tools.

Seneca Learning

Seneca is a homework and revision platform covering more than 95 per cent of the exams taken in the mainstream UK education system for KS2, KS3, GCSE and A-level curriculum. Funding will go towards increasing the involvement of parents of students on Free School Meals, with the aim of improving these students’ learning outcomes.

Texthelp - WriQ

WriQ provides tracking and automated marking of student writing, assessment of spelling, punctuation and grammar and allows teachers to provide personalised feedback along with objective marking through rubrics. Texthelp will widen the reach of WriQ to ensure accessibility and specific support for SEND students, in addition to targeted support for EAL students with the aim to develop English language writing skills, vocabulary and fluency.

Learning by Questions

Learning by Questions improves learning outcomes by supporting teachers with feedback and real-time lesson analysis. Funding will be used to focus on improving their product for students with low literacy (e.g. EAL and dyslexia).

Learning with Parents

Learning with Parents aims to narrow the disadvantage gap by supporting all parents and carers to engage in their children’s learning. Funding will go towards gathering insight on how to better reach parents from socio-economically disadvantaged families.

Integral

Integral offers high quality support for AS and A level Maths and Further Maths. Funding will go towards extending accessibility, including enhancements to using the website on smartphones.

Sumdog

Sumdog is an online games-based maths and English practice tool. Funding will focus on their high deprivation users and their home learning environment.