Barely half of UK teachers believe tech will improve their performance, finds study

RM Education’s first Teacher Effectiveness Review also found that only 27% of teachers felt confident using the technology currently at their disposal

Barely more than half of UK teachers believe that technology has the potential to positively impact their effectiveness in the classroom.

Fifty-three percent of teachers – and 39% of academic leaders – gave the assertion in RM Education’s first teacher effectiveness review.

Five-hundred and seventy-five teachers and academic leaders were interviewed for the study, which also found that 61% of respondents believed tech has the potential to improve education in the future.

Confidence will be a key factor in technology being effectively adopted. A little over a quarter of teachers (27%) claim to be self-assured when using tech already provided by their school, with 42% believing that their confidence won’t improve in the coming years.

Teachers want technologies that make meaningful improvements to their roles
 – Michael Oakes, RM Education

“For education professionals across the UK, interactive learning tools have promised significant improvements to the way students learn, helping to engage them in new and exciting ways,” said RM Education’s change strategy manager, Michael Oakes.

“However, what’s clear is that for all the benefits these provide, there is still a significant amount of work to be done to ensure time-consuming administration and processes, such as assessment and monitoring pupil attendance across a term, are as simple and streamlined as possible.

“Ultimately, unless leaders and teachers are confident with the technologies being introduced, any innovation and investment will fall by the wayside and not make the improvements teachers are looking for and students deserve.


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“Teachers want technologies that make meaningful improvements to their roles,” added Oakes, “and which free them up to focus on what they’re passionate about: teaching in the classroom.”

To that end, says the survey, teachers are hoping for technology to improve:

  • Lesson preparation and marking time savings (68%)
  • Time saving during the day (39%) 
  • Pupil engagement and behaviour improvements (20%)

And to help them achieve this, the tech they’d like to see introduced is:

  • Formative and summative assessments (84%)
  • School management information systems (64%)
  • Parental engagement systems (30%) 
  • Digital collaboration tools (28%)