EdTech at the crossroads of pedagogy vs profit

Education technology (EdTech) is transforming education at a fast pace – but at what cost?

Following its surge during the pandemic, schools now rely on EdTech for everything from admin tasks to student learning and safety. Yet this rapid growth raises urgent questions: Whose interests does EdTech serve? And what are the consequences when it infringes children’s rights to privacy, education, and protection from commercial exploitation, as our research shows? This lecture draws on research from the Digital Futures for Children centre and the 5Rights Foundation’s Better EdTech Futures for Children project. It explores tensions between pedagogical aims and commercial drivers in EdTech’s design and use. We examine how business models, data practices, and market forces shape learning environments, often at the expense of children’s rights, wellbeing, and inclusion. By placing EdTech in wider debates on governance, equity, and accountability, the session invites educators, policymakers, and researchers to reflect on what a child-rights-respecting, pedagogically sound vision for technology in education looks like – and how we can get there.