Futuresource BYOD K-12 Education End User Survey

Bring-your-own-device to school (BYOD) is a growing trend in some markets, with schools encouraging parent-funded technology purchases. While having been relatively common in private schools for some years, this trend is now gaining wider significance, with tightening education budgets being the main driver.

This report focuses on end-user data to offer insight into how parents are buying devices for their children to use. This phenomenon could impact how vendors approach the route to the education market, as the channels in which these devices are purchased can differ from institutional sales. Equally, the purchase decision-making criteria or added value sales opportunity when driven by a parent purchase can provide new opportunities for vendors. Analysis throughout this report brings together a mixture of parent and school data in order to provide a holistic view on the BYOD market. 

This is Futuresource's fifth wave of BYOD end-user research, following the first four waves in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. This focuses on major EdTech countries or territories where BYOD is understood to be significant or about to become significant: USA, UK, Australia, Germany, India and Japan.

BYOD comes in a range of different forms, though schools most often opt for a managed model where they recommend parents to purchase a device with certain specifications.

• Other methods include instructing the purchase of a specific device, or even schools allowing children to bring any device from home. The growing presence of 1:1 initiatives and plans to implement BYOD present further opportunities for manufacturers in this space.

Schools show a tendency to think ahead, rating modernising learning and keeping up to date with the latest methods as the top trigger for implementing BYOD when they did. BYOD is seen as a quick and efficient method of achieving 1:1 device ownership.

• Many were also influenced by external sources, such as tech vendors and EdTech companies. With over a quarter citing such influence in their decision to implement BYOD, this underscores the value of manufacturers forming strategic partnerships with EdTech providers, through consultative support or showcasing successful implementations.

  • Introduction
  • Key findings
  • BYOD schemes and methods
  • BYOD deployment
  • BYOD attitudes and future plans
  • Device usage
  • Device specifications
  • BYOD instruction considerations
  • Products purchased
  • Purchase journey recommendations and habits
  • Appendix 

Respondents had to be parents with a child between the ages of 5 – 18 in order to qualify for the survey.

A sample of 7,863 respondents were reached overall from the USA, UK, Australia, Germany, India and Japan. The sample sizes in each country were based on the size of the student population and the current pervasiveness of BYOD or expected strong growth in the near future.

Respondents were asked whether they bought a product for their child to use in school throughout the year, as a result of the school instructing them to do so. Any respondents who had purchased a device in this way were then routed into a deep dive section.

The sample was nationally representative of parents on key demographics such as gender, age and income.

In the school survey, respondents had to be an IT decision maker, school principal, curriculum lead or instructional technologist to qualify for the survey.

A sample of 488 respondents were reached overall.The sample size in each country was based on the anticipated size of the BYOD market.

Respondents were asked if the school instructed or allowed parents to purchase a device. Any schools that did were then routed into a deep dive section.

The sample was broadly representative on key characteristics such as school size and type.

Futuresource has been tracking, researching and consulting on the education technology market for more than 20 years. This publication is one in a series of end-user research reports, produced to provide businesses with a fully-rounded view of the market.

Any business with an interest in corporate video conferencing and meeting room technologies will benefit from this report, particularly:

  • Manufacturers and their suppliers
  • Supply chain and intermediaries
  • Education technology retailers
  • Market strategists, marketing and sales professionals
  • Technology investors

Latest Education Reports

Latest Education Insights

Find out more about how this website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience.