Promethean published their first “State of Technology in Education Report” in 2016, having garnered the insights of 1,500 teachers. This gave some insights of the current technologies, educator attitudes to technology and latest trends on pedagogical use of technology in education throughout the U.K. Earlier in 2017,
Promethean invited educators at all 
levels of education to join with them in undertaking further research to establish how the landscape with regard to the use of technology is changing at all education levels in the last 12 months throughout the U.K. Of the 1,600 participants 17% worked in primary schools, 48% worked in secondary schools, 26% worked in academies, 9% worked in higher education and just under 1% worked in further education.
In this posting we will look at what we can learn from this report from the views of ordinary teachers on what is working in their system and more importantly what is not working.
Teachers in STEM classes are using technology in their classes more than in any of the other subjects in 2017/2018. 39% of teachers are using technology in Maths, 41% in design and technology, 69% in computing while only 5% are using it in history and 12% in art and design. 63% of the teachers are using technology to track formal assessments and 35% are using technology to track informal assessment. Teachers are also finding that they can use online software to reduce their burdens associated with assessment. 67% of teachers reported that they believed that using technology in the classroom helped to motivate and engage pupils in their learning as it is a medium that pupils are familiar with. 62% of teachers believed they make the best use of technology when they can adapt it to the task in hand in the classroom. When it comes to school improvement, attendance tracking is key, 76% of teachers reported they are using attendance tracking software to track pupil attendance. However a considerable number of teachers reported they are taking attendance on offline registers with attendance data passed on to admin staff for importing onto online systems. This involves unnecessary work duplication.
More than half of the teachers 
taking part in this research believed technology has the potential to create a more positive learning environment. According to some of the latest research, technology can help in keeping pupils engaged at three different levels:
- Behavioural engagement – good behaviour during lessons
- Emotional engagement – pupils enjoy their lessons and value their learning
- Cognitive engagement – pupils put a lot of effort to understand topics they are learning in class
Obstacles to the use of technology in their schools as reported by teachers include the fact that 41% of teachers consider that technology failures make it more of a hindrance and burden on them instead of being of benefit. Nearly 20% of teachers reported they felt their skills in using technology were inadequate due to a lack of training or not having enough time to learn the new skills necessary for effective use of technology. In addition close on half of the teachers who took part in this research study reported that their schools are not investing enough in technology or are investing in the wrong technologies.