Ed-tech providers in many global markets are preparing for a broad reversal after years of growing interest in digital tools and their potential to support and improve the classroom.
A diverse array of countries — including some that were once considered leaders in adopting educational technology — are grappling with parent pushback and concerns over screen time, young students’ access to the internet, and whether the use of technology hamstrings skills like handwriting and critical thinking.
Many representatives of education companies refer to those sentiments as part of a pendulum, one that will swing back toward digital in the future. Even so, the shift still has real implications for the global industry over the next few years.
And it’s only one of the major challenges K-12 vendors see on the horizon.
EdWeek Market Brief recently spoke to executives and leaders from different education companies based around the world during the annual Bett UK ed-tech conference in London about the biggest challenges they believe the sector will face in 2025, and beyond.
Five key issues rose to the top, including helping teachers keep up with quickly evolving artificial intelligence, uncertainty about volatility in the political arena, and continued skepticism about data privacy and digital tools.
The company executives’ views offer broader context on trends that are also playing out in individual markets, including the United States. And they provide a window into the challenges that education providers may have to face if they’re looking to expand internationally.
The conversations also provide a look at why — or why not — more education companies may look to enter the U.S. market over the next few years.
1. Rising Concerns About Ed-Tech Saturation
Among the most notable countries taking a big step back from online learning is Sweden, which has, in many ways, led the world in ed-tech adoption for more than a decade.
Sweden began implementing a 1-to-1 student-to-device ratio in the early 2000s, years before many U.S. districts took a similar leap. Now, the government is looking to peel back some technology mandates and is emphasizing moving back to paper and pencil.
It’s a retreat that Beth Havinga, the executive director of the European Ed-Tech Alliance, has noticed in other European countries as well, including Finland, Spain, and Hungary, she said in an interview at Bett. Each has a slightly different reason for moving in that direction, though the overall intent to scale back student tech use is the shared thread.
In the U.S., some of these concerns have manifested in the form of cell phone bans and social media restrictions for students when in school.
Ultimately, there is going to be more technology in schools in the future — not less — as students need to be familiar with and comfortable using modern tools, said Jennifer Gu, chief operations officer for IXL Learning. What’s most important is ensuring that giving students access to technology doesn’t result in them being siloed with a screen and learning largely in isolation, she added.
“At the end of the day, we all want our students [to have] balance,” in how they use tech, Gu said.
2. Upskilling Teachers For AI
By 2030, IBM predicts that around 80 percent of tasks in major employment sectors, including education, will be influenced by AI, said Justina Nixon-Saintil, chief innovation officer for the tech company.
As with any new technology, companies will encounter about a third of teachers who grasp AI very quickly and see the benefit of it, she said. Another third will be cautiously curious. And the final third will require more guidance to show them the value and bring them along.
“Just like you need to be upskilled in the workforce… teachers have to upskill themselves,” Nixon-Saintil said. “For them to understand how to use it responsibly — and also how we can make a difference for students — they need to skill themselves and understand fundamentals of AI and AI ethics.”
When asked in recent EdWeek Market Brief surveys what specific features they want in AI products, support for teachers to become adept in using the tech was a top priority for U.S. K-12 officials.
Advancements in technology are not slowing, Nixon-Saintil said during a presentation at Bett. Advanced forms of cyber technology are also evolving, and rapid gains in quantum computing are “right around the corner,” she said.
“Before you know it, we have to learn and understand what quantum is,” Nixon-Saintil said. “That’s why lifelong learning is so imperative.”
At Microsoft, the company has seen a “broad swath” of uptake for their AI tools among teachers, said Paige Johnson, vice president of education. Some educators use the company’s generative AI tool, Copilot, for lots of different activities, including lesson plans, she said. However, others want a “one-trick pony” that only provides a simple, limited function, like summarizing a PowerPoint.
In response, the company is launching AI agents for instructional leaders, which don’t require prompting like generative AI and can be set up like a template for simple uses, Johnson said. It’s great for something simple like summarizing a PowerPoint, she said.
Fluency in AI is one of the fastest-growing categories of job skills in demand on LinkedIn in the history of the platform, Johnson said. (The online networking and communication network is owned by Microsoft).
“It’s just going to become a core part — like reading and writing and reasoning — of what the world expects,” she said. “So schools are going to have to accelerate how they think about building it into their learning standards, their curriculum, [and] their day-to-day work.”
3. A Tumultuous Political Landscape
President Donald Trump’s victory last fall has raised major questions among ed-tech providers, especially those based in other countries looking to gain a foothold in the massive U.S. market.
The uncertainty stems in part from questions about what sort of impact the new administration will have on federal funding for the country’s 13,000 school districts, as well as the administration’s impact on international trade.
Trump has vowed to impose tariffs on countries, potentially including longstanding U.S. allies, that he deems to be treating his country unfairly.
In his two weeks in office, Trump’s flood of orders and directives included issuing — then quickly rescinding — a freeze on trillions of dollars in federal grants across the government and signing two executive orders directing federal agencies to determine how to expand school choice and develop a strategy to end what he considers “radical indoctrination” in schools.
The actions echoed the tone of the rhetoric Trump has used to describe his ambitions for slashing the size of the federal government and eliminating programs he opposes, such as DEI efforts.
Unlike in many other countries, the role of the federal government in U.S. schools is comparatively small. It provides only about 10 percent of total K-12 funding, with states and school districts providing the rest.
Yet major federal funding streams like Title I and IDEA provide critical sources of targeted aid that U.S. districts count on to pay for products and programs in curriculum, assessment, staffing, and many other areas.
The U.S. isn’t the only country that has seen its national leaders move to take an increasingly strong position on education using political levers to influence policy. Conservative leaders in Hungary and the UK, for example, have similarly sought to influence K-12.
The uncertainty about what changes could be coming next may discourage some companies from entering new markets. New mandates could be tricky to navigate, and U.S. school systems may be especially cautious about trusting unfamiliar vendors. Others may be forced to look to the U.S. or elsewhere, as opportunities in their home country further diminish.
4. Increased Nervousness Around Data
Concerns about how to effectively manage student privacy remain top of mind for educators, said Sean D’Arcy, vice president of Kahoot, a global game-based learning platform headquartered in Norway.
If they haven’t already, all companies should be auditing what data they need to collect and adopt an “extremely conservative” approach — which Kahoot has done, he said.
The company has responded to concerns from educators about how data is used in a number of ways, including the addition of an option to turn off the use of AI features in their products.
The company also invested in hosting all of its data processing in the U.S., D’Arcy said, moving away from a global, distributed data processing model hosted from Norway.
“It’s kind of a limiter to businesses,” he said. “Some districts [in the U.S.] were just like: That’s a nonstarter for us.”
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5. Rethinking Definitions of Career-Readiness
As generative AI is quickly becoming more prevalent, it opens the door for educators to reconsider which skills will be most beneficial to students when they enter the workforce.
Learning to code, for example, has become a key part of K-12 curriculum over the last few decades. However, generative AI can assist with coding, if prompted, without requiring the user to have basic coding knowledge. If coding’s importance is downgraded, it would represent a significant rethinking of how schools focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).
Coding and STEM skills should not be abandoned, said Nixon-Saintil, the IBM executive, who has a background as an engineer. She cautions ed-tech providers against removing those basic lessons in computing and coding from their curricula. STEM in general should remain a priority, she argues.
Instead, K-12 schools should consider what additional skills students will need to succeed in an AI-supported workforce.
There’s a lot more conversation in tech companies about hiring people with psychology degrees, who can bring their knowledge of humans and how they interact to AI products, Nixon-Saintil said. Creativity will also be in high demand.
In the U.S., skills-focused learning for K-12 students has seen a resurgence of interest, with policymakers emphasizing career and technical programs and certifications for students entering the workforce after graduation — in some cases over a post-secondary degree.
IBM, like many other companies, is moving away from requiring an advanced degree from job applicants, in favor of certifications, credentials, and their ability to demonstrate a competency or skill.
“That’s a good thing,” she said. “Because for years, tech companies have been very focused on those STEM fields. I think they’re still critical, but it’s good to hear that with AI, there are different sets of skills they’re also looking for.”