EdTech Impact Buyers’ Guide 2025 – Part 1: Defining Your Strategy

This is the first in a five-part series from EdTech Impact designed to help schools take a strategic, evidence-informed approach to selecting and implementing education technology.

With the sheer scale and pace of innovation in the EdTech space, it can be tempting to rush toward shiny new tools that promise big impact. But meaningful, sustainable adoption rarely starts with a product – it starts with purpose.

Whether you’re a school leader, digital lead, or classroom practitioner, the first step in making confident, evidence-informed EdTech decisions is to define your strategy.

🎯 Start With the Why

Before you even consider searching for technology solutions, it’s important to first define the problem you want to solve.

Consider the needs of your organisation:

• What does it exist to achieve?
• What problems and priorities need to be addressed, and why?
• Who should be involved in those conversations and decisions? 
• What is already known about the problem and potential solutions? What is still unknown?

If you are seeking tools that specifically enhance teaching and learning, focus on these important pedagogical considerations: 

• What do you believe great learning really looks like? 
• What do you believe great teaching really looks like? 
• What kinds of knowledge and skill development do you want to see in your school?
• How should learning in your organisation relate to life outside of it? 

✅ Define Desired Outcomes

Next, define the outcomes your solution should achieve. It’s very easy to get drawn into conversations for tools that look fun or impressive, but have minimal impact on learning, or strategic priorities.

We suggest mapping solutions against their impact (the outcomes they claim to improve), allowing you to quickly filter to those aligned with your needs.

Here is our top-level taxonomy of EdTech outcomes – a framework we use at EdTech Impact to help schools evaluate and align tools with the results that matter most:

⚠️ A Word of Caution

Avoid the temptation to skip the research stage and jump straight to your favourite option. Poor planning has proven to be the Achilles’ heel for many EdTech projects, leading to wasted money, decreased staff confidence, and another entry into the (virtual) cupboard of shame.

Equally, be cautious when relying on recommendations from other schools. Peer insights can be extremely valuable, but each school or college is its own unique ecosystem and influences. Contextual factors, such as staffing, budgets, student intake, priorities, and skill sets may vary significantly, leading to different outcomes even with the same tool.

👀 What’s Next?

Now that you’ve defined your strategy and clarified what success looks like, it’s time to dig deeper into the decision-making process.

In the upcoming parts of the EdTech Impact Buyers’ Guide 2025, we’ll help you:

➡️ Part 2: Evaluate Evidence – Understand what good evidence looks like and how to assess whether a solution will work in your context

➡️ Part 3: Navigate Contracts and Compliance – Avoid costly surprises by asking the right questions before you commit

➡️ Part 4: Prioritise Privacy and Accessibility – Ensure tools are inclusive, transparent, and meet the needs of your learners

➡️ Part 5: Engage Suppliers Strategically – Cut through the noise and ask sharper, more meaningful questions

Together, these parts will help you move from strategy to confident, evidence-informed decisions – and ultimately, more impactful EdTech use in your school.