Looking ahead to the new year, our Operations Director James Shackley shares some of his thoughts on four predictions for education technology and what these may mean for schools and trusts.

Here are our ICT 4 top predictions for you to consider:

1. The continued rise of AI

Guess you pretty much expected this one, right?  However, 2025 may just be the year that AI in education ‘matures’, with school leaders continuing to embrace the opportunities AI brings for their staff and learners alike. 

The real challenge may lie in finding the ‘sweet spot’ in terms of supporting those who wish to make use of AI in how to carefully choose and deploy the tools in safe, impactful and risk-free manner and helping colleagues share in this best practise. 

Schools may also need to be mindful that ‘AI’ has become the latest marketing buzzword (does anyone still remember ‘machine learning’? just sooo early 2020s…) and carefully choose their tools based on proven impact and not just on fancy sales pitches from companies keen to jump on the bandwagon! 

2. The cloud...are we there yet?

2025 is likely to be the year that schools either make further strides towards or conclude their journey to the cloud for the majority of their data and systems. 

However, moving to the cloud is frequently viewed as the ‘destination’ – many schools are yet to really consider and embrace the full possibilities of the systems at their disposal once they have made the leap! 

True digital transformation flourishes when cloud technologies help form part of the wider strategic conversation, and clear goals that are closely aligned with their teaching and learning objectives are defined, together with a realistic plan to achieve them.  2025 could be the year we ‘move past the cloud’ and focus on talking about our real strategic ambitions and how technology can help deliver these. 

3. Uh-oh, it happened…"our school/trust had a cyber incident"

Sadly, given the rise of cyber hostilities around the world, include state-sponsored cyber aggressions, the risks of suffering a cyber incident have gone far beyond the ‘likely’ and schools now need to consider it’s a case of when they suffer a cyber incident, not if.

2025 brings with it new opportunities to draw up a robust cyber incident response plan, review training for staff and ensure the right blend of technical controls are in place to not just protect from, but perhaps more importantly recover from a cyber-attack. 

4. It’s not about the money, money, money…

As 2024 saw a change of government, new ways of thinking and, dare I say it, some small glimmers of optimism in terms of school finances, it’s still a reality that education is drastically under-funded and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. 

2025 must be the year that schools take stock of the ‘true cost’ of ICT, and carefully review their systems, hardware and processes to ensure holistic ‘best value’.  The new year could bring new opportunities to ‘break the cycle’ of make-do-and-mend of older, outdated hardware (leading to inefficiencies both in and out of the classroom).

Schools and trusts must work with their ICT partners to put strategic plans in place that maximise investments in ICT and minimise the disruption frequently experienced when continuing to support an estate of elderly and/or inadequate hardware.