Six years of UK EdTech trials point to the same conclusion: implementation beats technology.
RAND Europe's January 2026 analysis of large-scale evaluations across maths, reading, feedback and cognitive skills found that the technology was rarely the deciding factor. Teacher training, dosage and integration into daily practice determined whether tools worked.
By Wistl Newsroom · · Labs
RAND Europe published its analysis of six years of large-scale UK EdTech evaluations in January 2026 , drawing on trials across mathematics, reading, feedback tools and cognitive skills development conducted in partnership with education funders and delivery partners. The analysis provides some of the most methodologically robust independent evidence on EdTech effectiveness produced in the UK to date. Its conclusions are consistent and, for a sector that spends heavily on product development and marketing, considerably sobering. The central finding is that implementation quality determined out