London, 21–23 January 2026 – ExCeL London will once again become the global epicentre of education technology when Bett UK 2026 opens its doors. Now in its 41st year, the world’s largest edtech event is expected to welcome more than 35,000 educators, policymakers and innovators from 138 countries, all converging on one question: how can artificial intelligence finally deliver on its decades-old promise to personalise learning at scale while narrowing — rather than widening — the equity gap?
This year’s theme, “Shaping the Future of Learning Together”, is not marketing rhetoric. With the UK government’s EdTech Strategy refresh due in Q1 2026 and UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report spotlighting AI’s role in achieving SDG 4, Bett arrives at a rare inflection point where research, policy and classroom reality are colliding in real time.
The Main Stage: Policy, Vision and Hard Evidence
The keynote programme reads like a roll-call of global education leadership:
- Bridget Phillipson MP, UK Secretary of State for Education, will open the event with the first public outline of Labour’s long-awaited AI-in-Education framework, including details of the £15 million National Centre for AI in Tertiary Education and new safeguarding standards for generative tools in schools.
- Dr Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, delivers the international keynote on AI and the future of teaching, citing fresh data showing that only 11 % of low-income countries currently have national AI curricula versus 79 % of high-income nations.
- Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, returns with the latest PISA 2025 digital-learning insights, revealing which countries have successfully used adaptive platforms to close post-pandemic attainment gaps.
- A fireside conversation between Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Google’s Ruth Porat will focus on responsible corporate investment in public education systems — a session already sold out for in-person attendance.
The Show Floor: Immersive Demos That Move Beyond Hype
More than 650 exhibitors will occupy 42,000 m² of exhibition space, but the real energy will centre on three curated arenas:
- AI & Adaptive Learning Zone (North Hall) Century Tech, Sparx Maths and Microsoft Education will demonstrate live adaptive engines that now adjust content in under 200 ms based on pupil emotion detection via webcam — a leap from last year’s 3-second latency. Early trials in 180 UK secondaries show an average 0.4 effect-size gain in mathematics for disadvantaged pupils.
- Immersive Learning Theatre (South Gallery) Lenovo and Avantis Education are unveiling ClassVR Horizon, a £299 all-in-one headset bundle that requires no external base stations. A live 300-pupil simultaneous expedition to the Great Barrier Reef will showcase how cloud-streamed XR can run on standard school broadband.
- Global Equity Showcase (Platinum Suite) Supported by the British Council and FCDO, this area features low-bandwidth solutions from Kenya’s Eneza Education, India’s DIKSHA platform and Brazil’s Centro Lemann — proof that sophisticated AI personalisation can run on 2G networks and £40 devices.
Teacher Voice: From Anecdote to Evidence
Bett has deliberately expanded its teacher-led content by 40 % for 2026. The popular “TeachMeets” and “Bett Academy” strands will feature:
- A Year 6 teacher from a coastal school in Norfolk explaining how AI-generated bilingual subtitles increased EAL pupil participation by 68 %.
- A panel of headteachers from Dubai, Helsinki and Singapore comparing how they have embedded generative AI into teacher workload reduction — one school reports cutting marking time by 11 hours per teacher per week while raising attainment.
- The inaugural Bett Changemaker Awards, judged by pupils themselves, recognising edtech that demonstrably narrows rather than widens gaps.
Policy Shifts in Real Time
Behind the scenes, closed-door roundtables will shape actual legislation:
- The Department for Education’s Generative AI Working Group meets on-site to finalise statutory guidance on data protection and pupil consent when using LLMs.
- Ofsted’s new “Digital Innovation” judgement framework for 2026–27 will be stress-tested with 200 school leaders.
- The first draft of the pan-Commonwealth EdTech Standards — covering everything from interoperability to teacher CPD — will be debated by ministers from 56 nations.
Key Statistics Driving the Conversation
- 73 % of UK teachers now use AI tools weekly (Teacher Tapp/2025)
- Pupils in schools using adaptive maths platforms for >50 hours/year gain an extra 4 months’ progress (Education Endowment Foundation, 2025)
- Only 14 % of teachers in low-income countries have received any AI training (UNESCO, 2025)
- Global edtech investment reached $20.8 billion in 2024, with 61 % directed toward AI-driven solutions (HolonIQ)
Practical Information for Decision-Makers
Registration is open at bettshow.com. Early-bird rates end 30 November 2025:
- Free Expo pass (access to all exhibition zones and most theatres)
- £395 Premium pass (reserved keynote seating + Bett Academy)
- £995 Leadership Summit (private policy sessions and ministerial dinners)
Travel note: ExCeL is 15 minutes from London City Airport and directly served by the Elizabeth Line. Official hotels via the Bett booking portal are already at 87 % capacity.
The Bottom Line
Bett UK 2026 is no longer a trade show; it is the annual moment when the global education community collectively decides what “good” looks like in an AI-shaped future. The technologies on display in January will be in classrooms by September. The policies debated in the meeting rooms will govern billions of learners for the next decade.
For school leaders, trust CEOs, ministers and investors, missing Bett 2026 is not an option — it is the place where the next five years of education equity will be negotiated, demonstrated and, ultimately, delivered.