The Educator Magazine U.K. Jan-April 2023. - Magazine - Page 13
The Bett UK Advisory Board:
2022 in review
By Bett UK
This year we’ve watched the education sector begin to take steps towards recovery after more than two years of disrupted
learning. While the impacts of COVID-19 can still be felt in schools, colleges and universities across the UK and globally,
the EdTech community has witnessed some incredible innovations developed in response to the challenges affecting the
sector since 2020.
To reflect on 2022, we asked the Bett UK Advisory Board to think about what changes they have observed in education
since the start of the year, what their key highlights have been, and what they are looking forward to for 2023.
What has changed about the
education sector and our use
of EdTech since 2021?
James Garnett, Director of IT, United
Learning
“The focus on sustainability within
education; driven partly by the pupils
and students as well as schools and
colleges developing strategies to meet
carbon neutral goals, has been the
biggest change for me. There’s also an
increasing shift to putting technology
into the hands of teachers to enable
them to be more flexible in how they
teach inside and outside of the
classroom. I think we are finally at a
point where the technology, cloud
solutions and staff skills will properly
allow school staff to leverage the power
technology can bring.”
Katy Potts, Computing and e-safety
Lead for Children’s Series, Islington
Council Laycock PDC
“During the cost of living and financial
crisis and the subsequent impact on
schools, the education sector has
demonstrated astute creativity,
flexibility, and intelligence in the use
of technology and resources to adapt to
What is the most innovative,
inspiring or exciting project
or initiative you’ve seen this
year?
these challenges - cost-effective, saving
strategies, building on lessons learned
post-pandemic and with considerations
to sustainability and climate change
global priorities.”
Fil McIntyre, Manager and Assistive
Technology Lead, TechAbility/Natspec
“There is an increased understanding
in the specialist sector of the need for a
digital-first approach. Accessible, digital
resources can be adapted for learners’
individual requirements. Developing these
has required going back to the basics of
document and resource creation alongside
tools already built-into software.”
Rachel James, Assistant Principal
Teaching and Learning, Barnsley
College
“At my college, Barnsley College,
we have been working on a
community-based project - Discover
Digital. We’ve used it to engage our
teachers in the benefits and alternative
uses of digital technology, however, this
has spun off into other areas of practice
- such as our excellent Esports provision.
Additionally, the work we have been
doing has inspired people across our
community to engage in digital
technology with the college.
We’ve had over 1,000 primary school
children attend our digital schoolhouse
work and had Age UK introduce
members of their ‘forever young’ society
to digital technology.
The highlight of this was undoubtedly
introducing 102-year-old Edith to VR.
It blew her mind!”
Bett returns to the ExCeL London on 29-31 March 2023, bringing the education community
together to learn, network and trade. You can register for a ticket here!