The rise of digital technology has profoundly transformed the daily life of schools in recent years. Indeed, educational software, interactive whiteboards, pedagogical applications and even generative artificial intelligence: technological tools have gradually settled into classrooms. As an illustration, the French educational technology sector already represented 1.3 billion euros in 2021, a surge that the COVID-19 pandemic moreover strongly accelerated.
However, for families, this evolution raises as many opportunities as questions. Therefore, how can technology genuinely support learning? What are its concrete benefits but also its limits? Drawing on its pedagogical expertise, our bilingual school in Paris 16th thus offers a clear and nuanced perspective on the opportunities and points of vigilance linked to the use of technologies in education.
Key Takeaways
Here are the essential elements to remember to quickly understand the place occupied by technologies in education and the benefits they can bring to students as well as families.
- The use of technology in education encompasses all digital tools mobilized to support teaching, from learning software to digital work environments.
- Research shows that computer-assisted teaching can significantly improve learning, particularly in mathematics, when it is well integrated into the overall pedagogy.
- Digital technology smooths communication between school and families, notably through the use of simple tools such as automatic reminder SMS messages or online portals.
- The use of technological tools contributes to the development of digital skills that have become essential in today’s society.
- The effectiveness of the technology used largely depends on its supervision: a reasoned use, accompanied by teachers and complementary to in-person teaching, produces the best results.
- Generative artificial intelligence opens up new perspectives, but requires vigilance and critical thinking, particularly for young students.
Technologies in the service of learning: a scope to define
This notion covers a plural reality, which expands at the pace of digital advances. Defining its contours constitutes a useful prerequisite before examining its benefits as well as its limits.
Educational technologies: a notion with multiple facets
Educational technologies, sometimes referred to by the Anglo-Saxon term edtech, encompass all digital tools used to teach, learn or support schooling. A variety of resources can be found within this: computers, tablets, interactive whiteboards, educational software, online platforms, audiovisual resources, or even applications based on artificial intelligence. These tools can be used both in the classroom and at home, in the context of homework or communication between teachers and families.
The rise of digital technology in the French education system
For several years, the Ministry of National Education has been accompanying the deployment of digital technology in schools, with the objective of promoting academic success while best preparing students for the uses of the contemporary world. This policy translates concretely into equipment plans, the provision of online pedagogical resources as well as the development of digital skills throughout schooling. The health crisis nevertheless marked a decisive turning point: the need to ensure pedagogical continuity at a distance considerably accelerated the adoption of these tools by teachers, students and families.
The main tools used in the classroom
Today, teachers have at their disposal a range of tools with complementary uses.
Among them, educational software offers personalized activities in mathematics, French or languages, while digital work environments (ENT) facilitate access to lessons and communication between school and families.
For their part, interactive whiteboards energize classroom presentations. More recently still, generative artificial intelligence tools have made their appearance, opening up new possibilities while at the same time raising unprecedented questions.
The pedagogical contributions of digital tools
When well integrated into the pedagogical project, technologies make it possible to benefit from several concrete advantages in terms of learning.
Personalization of learning through computer-assisted teaching
One of the most promising contributions of digital technology lies precisely in personalization. Indeed, computer-assisted teaching software allows each student to progress at their own pace, on activities adapted to their level. In this regard, a literature review conducted by J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) underlines the particular effectiveness of these devices, notably in mathematics: out of thirty-one studies analyzed, twenty-one report significant positive effects, and most of the best-performing programs target mathematical learning specifically. Beyond the measured progress, these software programs offer students rapid feedback on their work while providing teachers with valuable data to adjust their support.
The development of essential digital skills
The regular use of digital tools in school also contributes to the development of computer literacy. Certainly, simply distributing computers is not sufficient, on average, to improve academic results; on the other hand, it allows for the development of genuine familiarity with these tools and the skills associated with them. Yet, in a society where digital technology is omnipresent, these skills have become indispensable: whether it involves searching for information, evaluating it, creating content, collaborating online or protecting personal data, all these aptitudes are now part of the expected background of the citizen.
Strengthening student engagement and motivation
Beyond learning itself, digital technology also constitutes a lever for motivation. Indeed, interactive resources, the diversification of activities and the possibility of visualizing one’s progress all contribute to maintaining students’ attention. Some studies also highlight that digital technology can foster cooperation between students and facilitate the inclusion of varied profiles, thanks to more flexible learning modalities.
Technologies in the service of school-family communication
The benefits of digital technology are not however limited to the classroom: they also concern the links between school and families.
Facilitating the monitoring of children’s schooling
Technological tools allow above all for the provision of simple and effective means of keeping parents informed of their child’s pathway. Whether through online platforms, mobile applications or SMS messages, these devices allow for the rapid sharing of information on grades, homework or attendance. On this subject, the J-PAL synthesis underlines that programs facilitating communication between school and parents ( notably when they transmit personalized information on academic performance) generally produce positive effects on averages, assessment results as well as classroom attendance.
Encouraging parental involvement in learning
Beyond simple monitoring, digital technology can also stimulate parental engagement. For younger children in particular, programs based on sending messages to parents, reading activity suggestions, encouragements, reminders, contribute to improving early reading and writing learning. This lever proves particularly precious for families faced with time constraints. Technology then plays the role of a link between school and home, in the service of the child’s development.
What issues and limits should be taken into account?
While technologies offer real advantages, their integration simultaneously raises issues that must be considered with clear-sightedness.
The importance of supervised and reasoned use
First of all, not all uses of digital technology are equal. Several studies indeed underline that unsupervised use of technological tools can produce neutral or even negative effects on learning. Thus, students who follow an exclusively remote curriculum generally obtain less good results than those benefiting from in-person teaching or a hybrid formula. Conversely, teaching combining classroom lessons and digital resources appears as a particularly effective approach. In other words, the presence of the teacher, interaction between students and the regularity of the school framework remain essential.
The place of artificial intelligence in education
Generative artificial intelligence, capable of producing texts, images or videos, is moreover making its entry into everyday educational life. In France, its use by students is authorized from 8th grade onwards, on the condition that the teacher explicitly sets the framework for its use. While AI can help a student understand a notion, practice or deepen a subject, it must under no circumstances carry out the work in their place. Educational authorities also remind us that these tools are not infallible: the responses produced can contain errors, sometimes formulated with an apparent certainty, a phenomenon referred to as “hallucinations.” In this context, learning to verify sources and maintain a critical perspective becomes a central skill.
Preserving self-learning and critical thinking
More broadly, the main risk of using digital technology in the world of education perhaps lies in the ease it offers. Yet, copying a response generated by an AI does not lead to progress: what leads to progress is the personal effort of analysis, formulation and reasoning. Therefore, the role of school and families consists of accompanying children in a lucid use of these tools, always prioritizing understanding over the simple production of results. In this regard, preserving moments of family exchange, encouraging curiosity and valuing personal work remain indispensable pillars.
How to integrate new technologies into a quality pedagogical project?
The effectiveness of technologies depends, ultimately, on the way in which they are mobilized within a coherent educational project.
A progressive integration according to school levels
First of all, the use of digital technology must be adapted to the age and maturity of students. Thus, within our bilingual nursery school in Paris, the priority is to maintain and strengthen human interactions, play and sensory discovery; digital technology then only intervenes punctually and its use is always accompanied. As students grow, however, these tools can take on a more important place. At the heart of our bilingual middle school in Paris, for example, they accompany group work, documentary research or language learning. Within our bilingual high school in Paris finally, uses diversify further: exam preparation, personalized training, learning information management and advanced digital skills.
The central role of teachers in accompaniment
Beyond this progression by levels, teachers play a determining role in the success of digital integration. It is indeed they who choose the relevant tools, define the framework for use and accompany students towards a thoughtful appropriation. Therefore, their training, their capacity to articulate digital tools and pedagogical approach, as well as dialogue with families are indispensable.
The École Galilée approach: a balance between digital technology and human pedagogy
Drawing on this conviction, École Galilée envisages the use of technologies in education as a support in the service of pedagogy, and not as an end in itself. To this end, our establishment favors a small class size framework, around twenty students per class, which allows for individualized monitoring and a controlled use of digital tools. Likewise, French-English bilingual teaching, present from nursery school onwards, is enriched with digital resources adapted to each age, in respect of a balance between human interactions, concrete experience and digital learning.
Ultimately, technologies in education represent a promising lever as long as they are thought through with rigor and accompanied with care. They make it possible at once to personalize learning, strengthen the school-family link and prepare students for the demands of the contemporary world. However, their effectiveness always rests on the quality of pedagogical accompaniment as well as on the space left for the personal effort of each child. It is precisely in this perspective that École Galilée builds its educational project, placing the student, and not the tool, at the heart of learning.
Sources
EY, The French Edtech Sector: Issues and Perspectives, 2021. Ministry of National Education, The Use of Digital Technology in Schools, education.gouv.fr. J-PAL, Can Technology Help Improve Education?, research synthesis, 2023. Kwark Education, The Advantages of Digital Technology in Schools. Ministry of National Education, CNIL, Internet sans crainte, Parentalité et Numérique: AI in Education. Ministry of National Education, Framework for the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Education, June 2025.