European EdTech Alliance Update November 24
Connecting and collaborating
“In education, we are disconnected, fragmented and we work in small networks and this is something we need to take seriously.”
With these words, Borhene Chakroun, Director for Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems, UNESCO, opened the Annual Meeting of the Global Alliance on the Science of Learning in Paris last week. We have continued to see fundamental fragmentation as we explore topics of knowledge exchange and communication within the education ecosystem this year, especially within the EdTech Strategy Lab, around topics like evidence, trust and evaluation of EdTech. However, across all projects we’ve supported, we have also seen collaboration, connection and sharing across stakeholder groups and beyond geographical borders as we have experimented with new ways of bringing people together and creating understanding around important issues.
This month, we continued to engage with and support many key organisations across a series of ecosystem events and also highlighted important insights from our research projects published this year.
At the EEA, we firmly believe in connecting networks, building bridges to create new alliances, and learning from each others’ experiences to inform new action. Read on to hear more about how we are achieving that through:
our EdTech Strategy Lab event at UNESCO in Paris
insights from EEA research
event and validation reports
and news from EEA Members & other opportunities throughout Europe
- Beth Havinga
Managing Director, European Edtech Alliance
EdTech Strategy Labs - Empowering the Ecosystem
Last week, 130 EdTech leaders and practitioners gathered at UNESCO headquarters in Paris for the EdTech Strategy Lab: Empowering the Ecosystem event. Attendees were able to join a celebratory cocktail event sponsored by AWS and meet each other through a series of engaging networking formats. The following day highlighted key findings from a year of research and engagement, offering a platform to share diverse stakeholder perspectives.
Participants engaged in interactive sessions to identify challenges, brainstorm solutions, and explore opportunities for deeper collaboration around the topics of trust and evidence. We are grateful to our hosts and event partners, UNESCO, as well as the Jacobs Foundation for their generous support of this project in 2024.
We’re grateful for the inspiring discussions and meaningful insights of those who could join us. Stay tuned for our comprehensive report which will be shared on Friday—via our LinkedIn and website.
EmpowerED
Austria: Wiener Bildungsfestival
At this year’s Bildungsfestival in Vienna on November 27th, we joined forces with our Member EdTech Austria and facilitated a highly interactive workshop to validate recommendations from the EmpowerED Roadmap on building digitally competent schools. Topics of discussion included the need to provide comprehensive training to staff in school whenever new hardware or software is purchased; support for procurement decision-makers to make informed choices about EdTech purchases; and a need for national plans on how to involve schools in defining their digitalisation needs. Check out the full summary and our key findings here!
Find out more about the project here: Empo werED
Female EdTech Fellowship
We’re thrilled that the sixth cohort of the Female EdTech Fellowship is now in full swing, with participants already gaining invaluable insights from industry experts like Zara Zaman, Head of Platform at Emerge and Ilonka Janokwich, Partner at Rubio Impact Ventures. Fellows have also met with Louise Doherty, a leading executive coach, to discuss how female founders can communicate with clarity and confidence.
Looking ahead to next year, we’re eager to launch our 7th cohort next spring. Stay tuned for more details coming in January 2025! In the meantime, we invite you to connect with us via LinkedIn or email. If you know of a talented female founder who deserves a spot in the programme; have an inspiring speaker to recommend; or simply have questions about the fellowship - don’t hesitate to reach out to our team.
EEA Event Involvements
UNESCO Learning Sciences Event
The Annual Meeting of the Global Alliance on the Science of Learning took place on Monday the 2nd of December. As a founding member of the alliance, the EEA was excited to be a part of the work again.
Over two days, global leaders, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners got together and discussed this year’s theme: “Building Bridges to Transform Learning.” This theme resonates deeply with our mission: bridging research, policy, and practice to ensure educational technologies are grounded in evidence and designed for meaningful impact. Make sure to look at the report from last year’s meeting!
Women in EdTech Networking at BETT UK
Calling all women in EdTech! Join us again this year, alongside our partner BETT UK, at the Innovation Theatre on 23 January 2025 at 17:05 to celebrate women in EdTech!
Want to come along? Get your ticket here!
Other News & Opportunities
Bett UK 2025
Wondering if your dream customers will be attending Bett UK 2025?
Our partners, Bett UK, have created a valuable Audience Breakdown Report which highlights the impressive reach and impact for exhibitors who attended Bett UK 2024. Bett UK 2024 saw a whopping 46,694 visitors from 129 countries, that’s 14,000 buyers responsible for over 65 million learners!
Bett UK 2025 is set to be the biggest show yet, as they celebrate four decades of educational excellence at the ExCeL, London from 22-24 January 2025. With world-leading exhibitors and educators in one inspiring location, this is an opportunity not to be missed. Don't forget to register for your ticket!
Insights from EEA
Deep Dive 2
Who needs evidence in EdTech? What is driving them to want it or need it?
We recently published the second edition of the EdTech Strategy Labs Deep Dive series, and this publication explores:
How each type of certification or evaluation of EdTech contributes to a comprehensive evidence ecosystem
Why key gaps in addressing the needs of diverse stakeholders are emerging
The complex motivations, goals, and skillsets driving the demand for evidence in EdTech
To help better understand how to address these issues, we have delved into some of the complex interactions of key stakeholders, discussing their different motivations, goals, skillsets and, most importantly, their needs.
Read the full report here 👉https://www.edtechstrategylab.org/deep-dives
Understanding a comprehensive evidence ecosystem
A preliminary mapping of the EdTech ecosystem conducted by the European EdTech Alliance indicates that quality assurance frameworks can generally be categorised into overarching types, which are driven by distinct motivations, led by different stakeholder groups, and produce different outcomes. The problem is, however, framework types can often operate in silos and/or not adequately engage all key stakeholders on their own.
This makes it challenging for educators and policymakers to navigate the vast array of EdTech solutions effectively, for developers to aptly ensure their solutions adhere to meaningful methods of validation and evidence requirements, and for researchers to align core research needs from the ecosystem with essential research questions of methodology.
You can read the full blog post from the EdTech Strategy Lab here.
Why Unplugging Isn’t the Answer: The Basic Skills Europe Cannot Ignore
by Jannie Jeppesen
The past few years have been nothing short of tumultuous for education. Across the globe, schools responded to lockdowns with what can only be described as a "shock digitalisation." Amid this upheaval, we’ve seen worrying trends: declining literacy, numeracy, and science results in PISA assessments, a growing wave of mobile phone bans across Europe, and now the ICILS report, which shatters the myth that young people, simply because they’ve grown up with smartphones and the internet, automatically possess strong digital skills. They do not.
Read the full article from our First Chair here!
Save the Date!
22nd-24th January: BETT UK in London, UK - Check out the Agenda
Check out our members’ newsletters
This newsletter is written and produced by the European Edtech Alliance. The European Edtech Alliance is a consortium of national trade associations and clusters working with founders and providers of education technology (EdTech), to support the domestic and international growth of these businesses and the innovations they represent. European EdTech News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.