Dave Smith
Head of Partnerships and Events, British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA)
Finding the right edtech products for your school can be difficult. Who do you turn to for advice? Who can you trust to guide you? How can you see beyond the hype to find the edtech that will make a difference in your school?
The LendED platform is a free-to-use online portal produced by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) and supported by the Department for Education (DfE).
A portal for finding the right edtech product
The platform provides extended free access to edtech resources from suppliers that have been subject to BESA’s stringent safeguarding, data privacy and quality assurance controls. It allows you to search and select edtech products from reputable suppliers, read case studies from fellow teachers and then request a free, no-obligation trial.
How does the portal work?
It is designed to help you locate edtech products and services to meet your needs. It provides details on hundreds of products backed by the DfE.
- Use the search and filter functions to identify possible solutions for your school.
- Read the product entry including the case studies and testimonials.
- Identify the solution that best suits your school.
- Request a free trial using the button on the product page.
- Wait for the supplier to contact you to set up the free trial (usually within two working days).
- Try the product out in your school, without any obligation to purchase.
- Decide whether to keep or return the product.
- Write a review on the platform, so other schools can benefit from your experience.
It allows you to search and select edtech
products from reputable suppliers.
Review your school’s edtech provision
BESA has also created an EdTech Leadership Briefing Paper to help schools review their current edtech provision and ascertain what resources may be needed, which is where LendED comes in. You can download the briefing paper to:
- Gain a contextual understanding of the current provision and use of edtech in UK schools
- Enable your school to make informed, data-driven decisions with rare access to up-to-date information on school spending and priorities
- Consider key aspects of your edtech strategy with key leadership questions and a quick audit tool
- Understand how the new Department for Education digital and technology standards will impact schools (England only).
BESA is the trade association covering the entirety of the UK educational suppliers’ sector. It operates on a not-for-profit basis and is accountable to an Executive Council. It has a 90-year heritage serving the UK education sector and represents over 400+ educational suppliers in the UK.