Research summary · Everyone · All UK nations
Ed-tech in schools: what the evidence says works
A summary of the EEF’s guidance on using digital technology to improve learning, and what parents can ask.
By the Pyxion Learn team · Checked 30 October 2026
Schools spend heavily on education technology. The Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance report, Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning (2019), reviewed the international evidence. Its central message: technology on its own rarely improves learning; how it is used does. Giving every pupil a tablet is unlikely to raise attainment by itself.
The four recommendations
- Work out how technology will improve teaching and learning before introducing it. The same tool can work well in one school and not at all in another, depending on how it is used.
- Use technology to support teachers’ explanations and modelling, for example interactive simulations in science or visualisers to model writing.
- Use technology to improve how pupils practise, so that practice builds fluency and helps pupils remember.
- Use technology to improve assessment and feedback, so teachers can spot misunderstandings sooner.
Questions parents can ask
- What is this app or device meant to improve, and how will the school know if it has?
- Does it give my child more, better practice, or better feedback?
- How much screen time does it replace, and what does it replace?
How Pyxion Learn applies this
We build tools for decisions, not for screen time: one clear report on the schools within reach, with every figure dated, instead of hours across scattered websites.
Source
Education Endowment Foundation, Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning (2019).