itslearning geeft leerkrachten meer mogelijkheden en helpt alle leerlingen hun volledige potentieel te bereiken.
Vertaling gegenereerd door een AI vertaaldienst
Bett in London has always been a place for scale. Big halls. Big ideas. Big promises about the future of education. This year, something felt different.
At the itslearning Innovation Summit, the energy was quieter and more deliberate. Conversations were less about what was new and more about what actually works. Less about tools, and more about teaching, learning, and the day-to-day reality educators are living with.
Across keynote conversations, customer discussions, and expert perspectives, a similar tone kept surfacing. Educators are not short on technology. They are short on clarity, time, and alignment.
Some of the most important insights did not come from the stage alone. They came from listening closely to school leaders, teachers, system administrators, and researchers approaching the same tensions from different directions.
This blog brings those voices together, not to resolve them, but to understand them better.
The Innovation Summit shifted the focus from observation to implication; why change so often struggles to last once schools return to daily practice.
One point was clear: Change does not begin with technology. It begins with belief.
Dr. Fiona Aubrey-Smith, founder of PedTech, bestselling author and a research consultant, challenged schools to look beyond good intentions and focus on lived experience. “It’s not so much about the intentions we have,” she said, “it’s about how it’s actually experienced and internalised by our learners.”
Seen through that lens, familiar patterns emerge. Schools invest. Expectations rise. Outcomes disappoint. Then the cycle begins again.
As Fiona observed, “It’s an interesting thing that it’s the technology that re-initiates the cycle, but it’s the education that we care about.”
That mismatch helps explain why progress can feel short-lived. Real impact comes when schools are clear about what they believe learning should look like, and make decisions that follow from that.
Artificial intelligence came up here too, not as a shortcut, but as a prompt to revisit intent. “Effective pedagogy is completely dependent on the belief system that it emerges from,” Fiona reminded the room.
Leadership and culture were never far away. As school principal and Innovation Summit speaker Annegret Ochsenreither-Asmus put it, “If you want to change something, you need to change it as a school.”
Across the different voices, the message was clear. Change that lasts comes from shared understanding and making choices together, not from speed, scale, or novelty.
From Fiona's presentation. Image credit: Tim Clarke, shared via LinkedIn
Those ideas became more tangible in conversations with people working inside schools and institutions.
Fragmentation came up again and again, showing up in very practical ways:
“If you have too many tools, this will just confuse everybody,” Annegret said. The problem was not the tools themselves, but the lack of a shared approach.
Several educators also questioned the assumption that students want endless flexibility. Many want clarity. “The planner [in itslearning] was the main thing,” Annegret said. “Once that was clear, everything else became easier.”
Making learning visible changed behaviour too. Less chasing. More ownership.
Progress often came from small, practical choices rather than big reforms. Shared ways of working. Predictable structures. Making learning accessible, even when students are not physically present.
There was also honesty about tension. Teachers value professional freedom, but too much variation creates uncertainty for learners. In that context, structure was described as a relief, not a restriction.
Resistance, when it appeared, was rarely about a lack of care. “Underneath all of that is this fear of being overwhelmed… of not appearing competent,” Annegret said.
The expert interviews helped place these experiences in a wider context.
For Fiona, a lot of the tension schools are facing comes back to intent. “What is our pedagogy,” she asked, “and how can digital tools support that, or step away where it’s not appropriate?”
She also challenged the way we talk about screens. What matters is not the screen itself, but the kind of thinking it invites.
Looking across the wider ecosystem, Jonathan Viner, founder of 10Digits and publisher of Nordic EdTech News, reflected on a sector moving toward more deliberate digital choices. He emphasized that the conversation is shifting toward “prioritising high quality resources that deliver learning outcomes,” with digital tools being used intentionally rather than by default.
He also raised wider questions of trust and dependency. “Digital sovereignty came up,” he explained, pointing to growing concern across Europe about long-term reliance on global technology providers. While these pressures exist beyond individual schools, they increasingly shape how institutions think about risk, responsibility, and choice.
Taken together, these perspectives point to a simple reality. Schools are working inside systems they do not fully control.
Want to explore these perspectives further?
Watch our full conversation with Dr. Fiona Aubrey-Smith on pedagogy-first thinking and purposeful digital use.
Watch our full conversation with Jonathan Viner on digital sovereignty, evidence-informed decision-making, and the impact of EdTech across Europe.
Stepping back, a few clear patterns stand out:
These ideas were not coordinated. They emerged because people in different roles were asking the same questions and reaching similar conclusions.
The conversations at Bett suggest an education sector that is slowing down and thinking more carefully about where it is heading.
There is less interest in disruption for its own sake, and more focus on what can realistically be sustained.
For itslearning, this reinforces a familiar role. Not as a provider of quick fixes, but as a thoughtful partner and listener.
What stood out most this year was the honesty. About what is difficult. About what takes time. And about the shared responsibility involved in shaping learning that feels purposeful and grounded.
The conversation does not end in London. It continues wherever teaching is planned, learning is shaped, and decisions are made about what really matters. And it’s one we intend to stay part of.
Couldn’t make it to Bett 2026? No worries! Get in touch to learn more about how these innovations can support your school or institution! Contact us via our contact form.
