Why AI EdTech Companies Must Offer More Than Just a Product

Adam Sturdee
Mar 6
4 min read

Artificial intelligence is entering schools at remarkable speed. In the last two years, teachers and leaders have gone from curiosity about generative AI to real experimentation in classrooms, planning, assessment, and professional learning.

Yet beneath the enthusiasm there is also confusion.

School leaders are trying to answer fundamental questions. What is AI actually good for? Where should it be used and where should it not? How reliable are the outputs? What are the safeguarding implications? What does responsible implementation look like?

These are not simple questions. And they highlight an important reality that the EdTech sector is still learning.

In the age of AI, building a good product is not enough.

AI companies working in education have a responsibility to help schools understand the technology itself.

AI Is Not Like Previous EdTech

Most education technology tools have historically been quite contained.

A learning platform delivers content.A homework system organises assignments.A behaviour system records incidents.

AI is different.

Large language models are general-purpose systems. They can summarise, analyse, generate text, suggest ideas, and respond conversationally. Their capabilities are broad, and their behaviour can change depending on prompts, context, and evolving models behind the scenes.

This creates enormous potential. But it also creates uncertainty.

Teachers who are new to AI often ask very practical questions:

Can I trust this output?
What happens to the data?
How should I prompt it effectively?
Where is the line between assistance and automation?

Without support, many educators either avoid the technology entirely or use it in a very limited way. In both cases, the potential value is lost.

This is why service now matters as much as software.

Schools Need Partnership, Not Just Platforms

Schools are complex organisations with strong cultures, professional traditions, and safeguarding responsibilities. Introducing AI into that environment requires more than simply giving staff a login.

Leaders need space to think about how the technology fits their context.

In practice, this means EdTech companies must act more like partners than vendors.

That partnership can take several forms.

First, there is the need for clear explanation. Schools need honest conversations about what AI can do well and where its limitations lie. Over-promising only creates mistrust.

Second, there is the question of professional learning. Teachers need practical guidance on how to work with AI tools effectively. This often includes demonstrations, walkthroughs, and opportunities to ask questions.

Third, there is the importance of alignment with school priorities. AI should not be something that sits alongside a school’s improvement strategy. It should support it.

A school focusing on coaching and professional development will use AI differently from one focusing on curriculum planning or assessment.

Understanding that context matters.

Listening to Schools Matters

One of the most valuable conversations in AI implementation often happens before the technology is even used.

When working with schools, it quickly becomes clear that each organisation is starting from a different place.

Some staff are enthusiastic and experimenting already. Others are cautious or sceptical. Some schools have well-established coaching cultures. Others are just beginning to develop them.

Understanding this landscape helps determine how AI should be introduced.

Listening carefully to school leaders about their priorities, their concerns, and their improvement plans allows the technology to be positioned in a way that supports the organisation rather than disrupting it.

Without that dialogue, even the most sophisticated platform can struggle to gain traction.

Support Helps Schools Unlock the Value

Another lesson emerging from early AI adoption in schools is that the technology often becomes far more valuable once staff understand how to use it properly.

A tool that initially appears interesting can become transformative once teachers see how it fits their daily work.

This is why onboarding and ongoing support are so important.

High-quality walkthrough videos, webinars, and practical explainers can help staff move quickly from curiosity to confidence. Clear examples help teachers see what effective use actually looks like in practice.

In many cases, schools also benefit from tools that can be tailored to their priorities. Prompt frameworks or templates aligned with school improvement plans can make the technology far more relevant to staff.

When this kind of support is present, adoption tends to grow naturally. Staff begin to see the technology not as something imposed from outside but as something that helps them think more clearly about their work.

A Responsibility for the Sector

AI is still at a very early stage in education.

The tools will continue to evolve rapidly, and the ways schools use them will evolve as well.

In this environment, EdTech companies have a responsibility that goes beyond product development. They need to help the profession understand the technology itself.

This means being transparent about limitations, investing in teacher training, and working alongside schools rather than simply selling to them.

When companies take that responsibility seriously, something powerful begins to happen.

The technology becomes less mysterious. Teachers gain confidence. Leaders are able to think strategically about how AI supports their improvement priorities.

That is when the real impact begins.

What This Looks Like in Practice

In our own work with schools through the Starlight platform, we have found that the most important conversations often happen away from the software itself.

They happen in webinars, onboarding calls, and discussions with school leaders about culture, coaching, and professional learning.

They happen when designing prompt templates aligned with a school’s priorities. They happen when answering honest questions about how AI works and what it cannot do.

Those conversations are not an optional extra. They are part of the responsibility of building

AI tools for education.

Because in the end, schools do not simply need technology. They need understanding. And that understanding is what allows AI to become genuinely useful in professional practice.

For those interested in seeing how this approach works in practice, you can explore the Starlight platform at https://starlightmentor.com.

Adam Sturdee is a senior leader and co-founder of Starlight, the UK’s teacher-first AI-powered transcript-based coaching platform for educators. His work sits at the intersection of dialogic practice, instructional leadership and responsible AI strategy for schools and trusts.

He will be presenting his research on AI-supported coaching at the BERA Teacher Education and Development Conference 2026: https://www.bera.ac.uk/conference/bera-tean-conference-2026