Broadleaf Partnership Trust has joined with 31 other schools and Trusts across the country to help research the impact of technology in education.
The National PedTech Partnership represents 756 schools, 250,000 students and 22,000 staff with Broadleaf helping to bring knowledge and expertise from Nursery through to Sixth Form.
Together with the other founding partners, we’re supporting a two year research programme exploring how those leading a pedagogy-first approach to digital (PedTech) identify, articulate, scale-up and share evidence of impact. This will support others across the wider education sector, bringing greater equity for young people across schools.
Themed areas of focus will span pedagogy, curriculum and assessment, SEND, inclusion and equity, oracy, community and families, the role of artificial intelligence (AI), and what it means to be a teacher or learner in a contemporary landscape. In the short term, the alliance will empower schools to more effectively understand the return on investment of their existing digital provision, through a series of themed studies, reports and guidelines.
BPT Director of Education Ian Barton says it fits in perfectly with the Trust’s aims and ambitions for utilising technology in teaching:
“We are delighted to join with so many others as founder members of the National PedTech Partnership. For us, the most important thing is that learning comes first and its used to drive standards and improve the quality of education and look at how we can personalise the curriculum for the children.
The research project will be led by one of the country’s leading researchers into this field to develop the thinking around how best we can use devices to help children learn.”
After significant investment, Broadleaf’s journey to one to one access to technology within school has taken a big step with students and teaching staff at both Plantsbrook and Perryfields Academy starting to receive personal Chromebooks, to stay with them throughout their time in secondary education.
It follows similar moves within schools in the Primary phase of the Trust to ensure students can continue learning in the classroom and at home.
Ian Barton says it’s important we maximise the benefits of technology to enhance traditional teaching methods:
“We’ve spent a long time planning the rollout of devices and training of staff, we have a clear idea of the direction of travel but obviously along the way we want to make sure we continue to challenge our thinking, continually improve and drive the standards and use of the devices forward.
One of the important aims of this project is to provide dignified education for children to really help those who might be struggling with literacy and learning, that this is a tool to help all children achieve their goals and potential. We’re working to develop a fluency project across the Trust and I’m excited to see how that can be incorporated into the use of technology and Google classroom.”
Speaking about the launch of the National PedTech Partnership, Co-founder Dr Fiona Aubrey Smith, said:
“At the heart of the National PedTech Partnership are the human beings at the centre of all our classrooms – learners and teachers. Our work is driven by the moral imperative of reducing inequities in and across schools.
“We formed this partnership with extraordinary forward-thinking system leaders as a result of our shared belief that by contributing insights, questions and expertise, we can offer informative at-scale research trends, insights and practical tools. This will support not only the relationship between schools and digital technology, but also wider educational leadership.
“Critically, our partnership is not restricted to specific models of schooling, policies or funding models, products or agendas, allowing us to bring together a diversity of perspectives and retain our focus on the most important aspect of all – our learners and their learning.”
John Murphy, Co-founder of the National PedTech Partnership, reflected on the launch of the Partnership sharing:
“There has never been a project of innovation at this scale. We have the potential to transform the experiences of 250,000+ children and young people. With our alliance’s strong belief in dignified inclusion and an approach to digital that puts pedagogy first – we can make a big difference to scaffold life chances and choices that can support outcomes for all and eliminate gaps.
“This work is fundamentally about equity and excellence. By collaborating together with purpose and intention, we can really think about the reality facing schools and groups, galvanise around a PedTech approach, and create exceptional leader and teacher capacity for success. This is the start of a very exciting journey – one filled with extensive professional generosity from the individuals involved across the partnership.“
System leaders involved in the National PedTech Partnership have committed to five founding principles:
- A belief that digital tools underpin a high impact contemporary school system.
- A pedagogy-first mindset about the use of digital (PedTech).
- The forward-thinking system leaders involved in the partnership have strategic responsibility for schools/groups.
- A commitment to supporting schools beyond the partnership’s immediate networks or groups.
- Acting as a community of purpose, transparently scaffolding each other’s learning.
The National PedTech Partnership will be publishing its research findings and guidelines over the next two years, through a series of events and publications, alongside a book due for publication by Crown House in 2026.
You can follow the work of the National PedTech Partnership by following “The National PedTech Partnership” on LinkedIn.