Bett UK 2026: Ten things you absolutely can’t miss at the EdTech event of the year
With the event just around the corner and the agenda now live, Bett UK 2026 is shaping up to be three focused days of big conversations, hands-on learning, and meaningful connection across education and EdTech.
Bett UK 2026 returns to Excel London from January 21 to 23, bringing together more than 35,000 educators, leaders, policymakers, and EdTech teams from over 130 countries. With more than 600 exhibitors, 400 speakers, and a programme that spans classrooms, campuses, and trust operations, there is a huge amount to explore across the three days.
ETIH has taken a close look at the agenda and the wider show experience to pull out ten things we are genuinely looking forward to this year, the sessions, formats, and moments that stand out for their relevance, practical focus, and ability to spark meaningful conversations during and beyond the event.
1. Arena keynotes on AI and society
The Arena sets the tone for Bett, and the 2026 programme opens with two speakers well placed to handle the scale of the conversation. Hannah Fry, a mathematician and broadcaster known for making complex ideas accessible, and Amol Rajan, a journalist and presenter with a strong track record of examining education and social change, will explore how AI is reshaping society, learning, and work.
These sessions focus on framing the moment rather than racing ahead to solutions. By grounding the discussion in context, culture, and real-world impact, the Arena keynotes offer a useful starting point for the rest of the show, setting up the themes that run through classrooms, campuses, and leadership conversations across the three days.
2. Higher Education and AI policy under the spotlight
Higher Education has a clear presence at Bett UK 2026, with a strong focus on how universities are responding to AI at a policy level. Sessions across the Higher Education Theatre look at the development of consistent approaches for staff and students, alongside wider discussions around leadership decision-making, assessment, and feedback in an AI-influenced landscape.
Speakers including Abbi Shaw and Jesper Hansen explore how institutions are rebuilding trust in assessment and feedback, while other sessions examine how policy frameworks are evolving to support day-to-day teaching and learning. Together, these conversations reflect the practical questions universities are now working through as AI becomes part of everyday academic practice.
3. The new Operational Transformation Theatre
New for Bett UK 2026, the Operational Transformation Theatre brings attention to how schools and trusts operate day to day. Delivered in association with ISBL, the programme focuses on digital strategy, AI, cybersecurity, governance, data, and operational decision-making, areas that increasingly sit at the center of educational leadership.
Sessions include contributions from Stephen Morales, the Chief Executive of ISBL, the professional body representing school and trust business and operations leaders across the UK. His session on operational excellence at scale reflects the wider theme running through this theatre: how technology, people, and processes come together to support sustainable, well-run education organisations.
4. Tech User Labs where you actually get hands-on
The Tech User Labs are designed for educators who want to spend time doing, not just listening. With more than 100 labs running across the three days, these sessions create space to work directly with tools, explore practical use cases, and test ideas in a focused, workshop-style setting away from the main show floor.
From coding and AI to everyday platforms already used in schools and universities, the Labs are built around real scenarios and real questions. We recommend booking in advance to secure a place, as these sessions are popular, but they offer clear takeaways, whether that is a new classroom approach, a sharper workflow, or a better sense of how a tool fits into everyday teaching and operations.
5. SEND front and center, with real voices
SEND has a clear and consistent presence at Bett UK 2026, with dedicated theatre sessions and a SEND Village on the show floor. The programme brings together discussions on assistive technology, inclusive classroom practice, and the use of digital tools to support learners with different needs across a range of settings.
Sessions include personal perspectives, such as a parent’s experience of AAC in specialist education, alongside practical conversations about supporting SEND learners into work. Together, these elements reflect an approach to inclusion that is embedded across the event, with lived experience and practical application sitting alongside technology and strategy.
6. TableTalks built around peer discussion
TableTalks return to Bett UK 2026 as a space for small-group conversation in the middle of a busy show. These 45-minute sessions bring together groups of educators around shared topics, creating an environment focused on discussion, reflection, and exchanging experience rather than listening to a speaker on stage.
Topics range from AI policy and curriculum design to assessment, cyber security, staff development, and budgeting. For many attendees, TableTalks offer a chance to slow the pace, compare notes with peers facing similar challenges, and leave with perspectives shaped by real-world practice rather than theory.
7. Women in EdTech stepping into the spotlight
Women in EdTech activity at Bett UK 2026 feels purposeful and visible, woven into the fabric of the event rather than treated as a side programme. From mentoring circles to dedicated networking moments, these sessions create space for honest conversation, shared experience, and practical advice across education and EdTech.
A key part of this is the launch of the Bett UK EdTech 10 List, an annual initiative that recognizes ten women who have made a significant impact in education through the use of technology. The list highlights work happening across schools, Higher Education, and communities, with a focus on quality of impact rather than scale. It adds a moment of recognition and storytelling to the programme, while helping surface role models and ideas that extend well beyond the three days of the event.
8. Kids Judge Bett hands the mic over to students
Kids Judge Bett is one of those moments at Bett that genuinely shifts the atmosphere. For one day, students aged eight to fourteen take on the role of judges, heading out onto the show floor to explore products, ask questions, test ideas, and debate what they think actually works.
The result is lively, opinionated, and refreshingly direct. Watching students present their awards live on the Arena stage is a reminder that curiosity, creativity, and usability matter just as much as technical capability. It brings student voice into the heart of the event in a way that feels natural, energising, and very much in the spirit of what Bett is about.
9. Esports becoming part of the bigger education picture
Esports at Bett UK 2026 feels more grown up and more integrated than ever. Rather than sitting in a single corner of the show, esports content runs across theatres and formats, connecting conversations around skills, careers, SEND, and Higher Education. It reflects how esports is increasingly being used as a route into engagement, teamwork, and applied digital skills.
With sessions delivered in association with the British Esports Federation, the focus moves beyond competition and into learning design, progression pathways, and inclusion. Whether you are already running an esports programme or just starting to explore what it could look like in your setting, this strand shows how play, motivation, and real-world outcomes are being brought together in practical ways.
10. The people, the conversations, and a first for ETIH
Bett really comes into its own through the people it brings together, and Bett UK 2026 offers plenty of opportunities to connect across the three days. Teachers, trust leaders, university teams, EdTech builders, and policymakers all in one place creates a shared energy that is hard to replicate anywhere else.
This year also marks something new for us. ETIH will be on the show floor, and we’ll be distributing our first-ever print magazine at the event and on our stand. If you’re attending, come and say hello at our stand (South SS62), pick up a copy, and have a conversation. Bett is designed for connection, and those face-to-face moments are often what people take away long after the event ends.
ETIH Innovation Awards 2026
The ETIH Innovation Awards 2026 are now open and recognize education technology organizations delivering measurable impact across K–12, higher education, and lifelong learning. The awards are open to entries from the UK, the Americas, and internationally, with submissions assessed on evidence of outcomes and real-world application.
