Developing a digital strategy

"Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively. They are like a great river that maintains its course but adjusts its flow."

Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

A school's strategy outlines its vision and includes a long-term plan for achieving this. It contains goals which reflect the philosophy of the school and its stakeholders. Once a strategy is established, goals can be prioritised in the knowledge that all actions taken according to this strategy contribute to a clear and established goal.

This approach makes selecting technology to use in school focused. It makes CPD goal-orientated and attending shows like BETT purposeful.

We will explore some of the things that a school might consider in its overall strategy. For each of these, we will consider the role that digital technology might play. In this way, the school's digital strategy becomes a supportive and vital part of the school's long term aims and vision.

Health/Happiness

Health and wellbeing are at the heart of everything schools do. Teachers act 'in loco parentis' and are expected to care for children to the same standards that parents would. All decisions that a school makes should begin with ensuring that pupils are physically and emotionally safe and that their wellbeing needs are met.

In terms of digital strategy, this includes keeping children safe through effective education about safe, discerning and healthy use of technology. It includes use of filtering systems and clear rules and routines to prevent incidents and monitoring tools to pick up the occasions when children get it wrong.

Communication and dialogue with pupils is key here. Pupils at all ages must understand that rules and systems are there to keep themselves and others safe. Frequent, age-appropriate discussions of scenarios as part of a well-planned PSHE and computing curriculum can help ensure this. E-safety is also increasingly becoming part of other subjects.

The discussion about rising levels of anxiety among young people should also prompt schools to consider ways that they can further support children with their emotional wellbeing. As part of the school's digital strategy, this will include education on the effects of social media, cyberbullying and healthy use of digital devices.

Admin

In schools, admin systems organise and structure the learning environment. This includes keeping track of attendance, monitoring progress, completing paperwork and planning, communicating internally and externally, organising equipment and preparing lesson materials. A school's digital strategy should look for ways to minimise time spent on admin tasks, which can otherwise mount up and detract from the time that teachers spend guiding children with their development. A digital strategy should also ensure that admin tasks are carried out effectively, producing outputs that are useful and of a high quality.

Teaching

A school's vision should include plans for the role of teachers in the classroom. What does teaching look like in the classroom? This will include how the teacher questions, models, includes all learners, encourages, challenges and explains. Technology may well play a part in many of these areas, depending on the age of the children being taught and the vision of the school. In many cases, whole-class teaching will be deemed effective, some all or parts of the lesson. Alternatively, children may receive instruction at their own pace using digital tools. It is likely a mixture of these approaches would be beneficial, although this depends on factors such as resources available and the age of the children.

Assessment and feedback

Assessment is at the heart of effective teaching. A teacher who carries out accurate assessment knows what to focus on in lessons, can help learners appreciate the progress they are making and highlight their next steps. A school's digital strategy may include ways that technology can be used to perform regular and effective assessment opportunities. This can include self-assessment by students or teacher-led assessment. Digital form tools like Google Forms offer quick ways for teachers to carry out assessments and for students and teachers to receive instant results.

Attainment

Effective teaching and assessment should result in high standards of attainment. Technology, when chosen carefully, can raise standards of attainment and this should be one of the goals of a school's digital strategy. Examples include use of data loggers in science, use of filming in sports or use of music technology.

Inclusion

The goal of SEND provision is to remove barriers and ensure that all students have equal access to learning opportunities. One of the most exciting aspects of technology in education is it potential for removing some of the barriers that children face to their learning, allowing them to fulfil their potential. A school's digital strategy will outline how digital technology facilitates the school's aims for SEND provision. This will include use of technologies that address children's individual needs. Some technologies might be able to meet differing needs, such as the provision of resources to be accessed at a child's own pace or tools to make reading accessible. Other specific technologies will be provided to meet needs and remove barriers.

Digital literacy

Just as schools have a duty to make children literate in terms of English or maths, they also now have a duty to ensure that children become responsible, safe, effective, creative and discerning users of technology. Literacy begins with discussions about technology, helping children to notice it in the world around them. By the end of primary-years, children should be able to talk with confidence about when it is appropriate to use technology and which technology is the most effective for the outcome they desire. Digital literacy is one of the three strands of computing, but is increasingly part of other subjects across the curriculum. A school's aims for the digital literacy of its staff and students should be part of its digital strategy.

A.I. literacy

AI has been part of children's lives for over a decade. AI-powered algorithms govern content that they are exposed to online, provide assistance in internet searches and word processing and control characters in games that they play. The widespread availability of generative AI tools since 2022 has added another dimension to children's experience of AI. Now, children can have realistic conversations with AI bots, can view content that is almost indistinguishable from human-generated content and can begin to harness the power of AI in solving complex problems. As with digital literacy, AI literacy begins with discussion, early AI literacy has been called 'AI awareness'. For young children, AI tools can offer outputs that are indistinguishable from a human output and this must be addressed. AI literacy at primary-level will be defined by a school's digital strategy, paving the way for children to contribute to a world where AI is increasingly prevalent and effective.

Media literacy

Digital media offers incredible creative opportunities to children in schools. Children can create content that can be seen by an audience globally. They can share their ideas through podcasts, short films, animations or documentaries, drawing inspiration from examples made in the professional field. As with AI literacy, media literacy starts with awareness. Children need to be taught that media is made by humans, often with goals in mind. They need to recognise that media can have powerful effects and can be persuasive. Media literacy was on one of five areas recognised as needing further attention by the 2025 curriculum review and as such, schools should address media literacy as they form their digital strategies.

Sustainability

Sustainability was another area recognised by the 2025 curriculum review as needing further attention in schools. On the one hand, sustainability might seem separate from a school's digital strategy. However, as I discussed in this blog post, technology provides exciting ways for schools to meet their sustainability needs.

Knowledge

I have seen it suggested that the availability of information digitally decreases the need for children to memorise knowledge and information. I could not disagree with this more. As Tom Sherrington highlights through analogy, knowledge is like the 'trunk' of a tree in the rainforest. Creativity and the application of this knowledge are represented by the foliage and stable conditions for learning are represented by the roots. This analogy highlights the need for all three aspects and avoids false dichotomies. As Greg Ashman points out, 'knowledge is what we think with'. A school's digital strategy might take into consideration how knowledge is presented or made available. Children might discover knowledge through using exciting digital tools, for example some of the tools I covered here. Schools might find that they wish to evaluate the knowledge taught, giving children access to more modern or more challenging knowledge. They may also re-evaluate opportunities for applying this knowledge, including using digital tools.

Thinking skills

In this blog post, I talked about the need to teach children metacognitive skills. Children who are aware of these skills gain greater ownership over their learning, appreciating the need to a logical approach and perseverance in solving problems and understanding why things go wrong. Digital technology offers useful ways for children to develop their thinking and metacognitive skills. Children can solve real-world problems, including working on project like Apps for Good, or by solving coding and robotics problems. Computational thinking, which is part of the computing curriculum, is an approach that can be expanded and adapted to subjects cross the curriculum. Thinking skills, their value and opportunities to develop these should be part of any school's digital strategy.

School identify

A school's digital strategy will contain some elements that are common across schools preparing children for the modern world. It will also contain elements relating to the ethos and priorities of the school, the school's vision and its unique perspective on education. Some of these things will be influenced by the location of the school, its history, the specialism of its staff and what the school offers to prospective students. In developing a digital strategy, schools must evaluate aspects of digital technology that should be common in effective education. Schools should also be confident to select technology depending on the aims and value that make a school unique and valuable in the community that they are established in.

Conclusions

In this post, we have considered some of the areas of school strategy that can be impacted by technology and would help shape a school's digital strategy. While technologies can change quickly, matching a school's digital strategy to the strategic aims and ethos of the school ensures that all decisions taken about deployment of technology are justifiable in terms of meeting long term aims. Approaches towards meeting this visions can change, but the course will remain constant and clear.