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Tech companies are increasingly shaping how children are taught in UK schools, report warns
A major new report has warned that tech companies, driven by commercial interests, have inundated UK classrooms and are reshaping education, as schools navigate a growing range of platforms without sufficient independent evidence, consistent guidance or oversight.
A major new report has warned that tech companies, driven by commercial interests, have inundated UK classrooms and are reshaping education, as schools navigate a growing range of platforms without sufficient independent evidence, consistent guidance or oversight.
Published by the Digital Futures for Children Centre (DFC) research centre, a collaboration between the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and 5Rights Foundation,Growing up in the digital classroom: Experiences of EdTech and AI in UK schools, is the largest qualitative study to date examining the impact of educational technology (EdTech) across all four UK nations. The study involved 454 children aged 6–18 across 11 primary and secondary schools, alongside interviews with teachers and education professionals. It explored their experiences of EdTech and its impact on children’s learning and rights, examining artificial intelligence (AI), homework platforms, classroom apps, and other technologies increasingly used by schools.
While EdTech offers opportunities to enhance learning in narrow contexts, particularly for children with special educational needs and disabilities, children and teachers described deeply concerning experiences that raise questions about the impact of digital platforms on children’s wellbeing. Examples included:
- Apps rewarding speed over learning: Children described being marked down or losing points despite answering questions correctly because they were not fast enough, with leaderboards and timers prioritising speed over understanding and disadvantaging children with additional educational needs.
- Adverts interrupting lessons: Children described how commercial and potentially harmful content is being introduced into classrooms including an Uber Eats YouTube advert interrupting a lesson about the Holocaust and a younger child seeing an advert featuring nudity.
- Schoolwork notifications interrupting sleep: Children described being subjected to automated schedules which disrupted their home life. A child in Northern Ireland described being woken at midnight by repeated notifications asking them to submit work they had already completed.
- Being tracked beyond the classroom: Children described digital systems recording their movements during the school day, including visits to the toilet or reception, and a feeling of being monitored “all the time”. They also described how digital platforms recorded and displayed their behaviour, including positive and negative behaviour points.
Beyond specific incidents, the report highlights concerning trends caused or exacerbated by increasing dependence on EdTech, including the risk of deepening inequalities between children and schools. Children without reliable access to a computer or internet at home described relying on shared devices, smartphones or staying late to use school facilities to complete homework. These barriers can leave children at a disadvantage, with some describing experiences that made them feel punished. Differences in access to devices, reliable connectivity, and paid features can also mean children do not benefit equally from educational technology.
The study suggests that schools are increasingly identified by the technology brands they use with staff saying that they rely on professional networks, conferences, product demonstrations, and companies’ own claims to assess tools. In the absence of independent guidance, several teachers talked about trialing EdTech products themselves. The report found that the design of commercial EdTech can influence not only how children learn, but what and how teachers teach, raising questions about who is shaping the UK’s education system.
The report warns that, where commercial considerations begin to determine educational practice, there is a risk that education adapts to technology rather than technology being designed around educational needs. Alongside ten direct asks from the children involved in the study, it calls for a more consistent approach to EdTech, including clearer guidance for schools, stronger independent evidence and procurement standards that assess a platform’s educational value alongside its impact on children’s rights and wellbeing. It argues that children’s voices must be included in decisions about the technologies they use, and that learning, privacy, inclusion and wellbeing must take priority over commercial interests.
“Our education system has been overridden by EdTech services over the last decade with no robust testing to prove these technologies support rather than harm learning, and no conversations with children, parents or teachers.
“No one voted for commercial tech to take over our schools. The governments in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast must assert their agency over education and ensure that tech used in schools is designed and proven to serve children’s learning and healthy development, and not a private company’s bottom line.”
Professor Sonia Livingstone of LSE, Director of the DFC and one of the world’s leading experts on children’s rights in the digital age, said:
“Our research shows that digital technology is no longer just a tool used in education. Increasingly, it is shaping children’s learning experiences and influencing how teachers teach.
“There is a clear need for stronger independent evidence, guidance, and scrutiny of the technologies that schools use. Decisions about EdTech must be driven by what works for children, with their rights and wellbeing prioritised.”
Dr Sandra El Gemayel, a researcher at DFC and one of the authors of the report said:
“Education is increasingly being reshaped by classroom technology and commercial interests, and children and teachers are concerned about it.
“Children want EdTech that enhances rather than replaces the relationships at the heart of education, creates opportunities for collaborative and creative learning, and is inclusive of their diverse needs and circumstances. Above all, they want technology that supports their learning, development and wellbeing, and that helps them fulfil their potential.”
Anila, age 17 from Birmingham, said:
“Technology in education should be there to help young people learn, not get in the way of it. Too often, learning becomes about collecting points, climbing leaderboards and competing with others, rather than enjoying the process of discovering something new.
“We also need to make sure schools remain places for learning and personal development, not opportunities for big tech companies to collect data and make money. And young people should have a real say in the technology they’re expected to use every day. For too long, those decisions have been made without us.”
Ellie Martin, a student teacher at Chailey Secondary School in Sussex, said:
“Technology in education should be there to help young people learn, not get in the way of it. Too often, learning becomes about collecting points, climbing leaderboards and competing with others, rather than enjoying the process of discovering something new.“Technology can be a helpful tool for enhancing classroom teaching, but only when used responsibly and with children’s learning at its heart. When choosing what technology to use, it’s important to look for tools that encourage meaningful, evidence-based learning.
“As this research has found, it isn’t always easy to tell which technologies genuinely support learning and which may be driven by other priorities. I’m conscious that commercial interests don’t always align with what’s best for children. Their education, safety and wellbeing must always come first.”
