The second Ministerial Symposium Challenge Roundtable explored how education systems can develop the governance, frameworks and partnerships needed to guide responsible innovation, while ensuring emerging technologies can continue to evolve in ways that support educators and learners.

Participants identified fragmentation in governance, accountability and expectations around emerging technologies. The group explored how education systems can move beyond policy statements to create practical structures, feedback loops and partnerships that enable the responsible use of AI and digital technologies at scale.

Across the discussion, participants highlighted how responsibility for evaluating, approving and monitoring emerging technologies is often distributed unevenly across policymakers, schools and technology providers. In many cases, the burden ultimately falls on individual school leaders, IT coordinators and teachers, who must navigate regulatory, technical and pedagogical considerations alongside their existing responsibilities.

To address this, participants explored the potential for independent, publicly funded but politically neutral agencies to provide greater consistency across education systems. These bodies could establish baseline safety standards, support the approval of tools, aggregate feedback from educators and provide a clearer interface between schools, governments and industry. Importantly, the aim would be to reduce risk and workload without removing the ability of schools and educators to make decisions that reflect their local context.

The conversation also highlighted misalignment between policy, professional development and classroom practice, particularly in rural and under-resourced communities. Participants discussed the need for more dynamic governance frameworks that connect national policy with evidence from real classrooms and ongoing professional learning.

One proposed approach was a ‘triangle’ model linking these three areas through continuous feedback. Supported by aligned funding and oversight, this could allow policymakers to understand how emerging technologies are being used in practice, help educators develop the skills to make informed decisions and enable regulation to evolve as technologies and classroom needs change.

Participants also considered the relationship between educators and the EdTech industry. Emerging technologies can be developed without sufficient understanding of the pedagogical, linguistic or cultural contexts in which they will ultimately be used. The group therefore explored co-creation models that bring teachers, researchers and technology companies together to iteratively develop and refine solutions within clear guardrails.

Shared standards, prioritised feedback mechanisms and incentives for safe, ethical and context-aware innovation were identified as ways to strengthen these partnerships. Rather than viewing governance simply as a means of controlling emerging technology, participants considered how it could create the conditions for better innovation by giving educators, governments and industry greater clarity and confidence.

Whilst the discussion approached governance from different national and educational contexts, a common theme emerged: responsibility for emerging technology cannot sit with schools alone. Effective governance requires clearer roles, stronger feedback loops and sustained collaboration between governments, educators, researchers and industry.

Key takeaway: The challenge for education systems is not simply how to regulate emerging technologies, but how to build governance structures that can evolve alongside them. By combining clear standards with educator capacity, continuous feedback and meaningful partnerships, governments can create the conditions for innovation that is responsible, trusted and responsive to the realities of education.