The Italian EdTech Market in the Making - Editorial Abstract & Article Summary

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dawugda

The Italian EdTech Market in the Making analyzes how digitalisation, digital education policy, and edtech-sector strategies remake education as a mechanism for extending the economic form of the market. Drawing on Michel Callon and focusing on Italy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the article examines how policy and commercialisation generate complex, chaotic and incoherent market-forming processes. Network ethnography highlights three edtech market agencements: solidarity-based detachment from profit, reintermediation through stabilising networking, and market soliciting through affection.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Digitalisation and policy re-crafting education

Edtech market-making processes in Italy

Three market agencements during COVID-19

Education Privatisation and Commercialisation in the Context and Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University | Volume 33 Number 59 | September 23 , 2025 | ISSN 1068-2341 | | --- | --- | --- | The Italian EdTech Market in the Making Emiliano Grimaldi University of Naples Federico II Italy Francesca Peruzzo University of Birmingham United Kingdom & Stephen J. Ball Institute of Education, University College of London United Kingdom Citation: Grimaldi, E., Peruzzo, F., & Ball, S. J. (2025) . The Italian edtech market in the making. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 33(59). [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.33.8657](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.33.8657) This article is part of the special issue Education Privatisation and Commercialisation in the Context and Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic, guest edited by Sue Winton and Nicole Mockler. Abstract: In this article, we explore how digitalisation, digital education policies and the strategies of the edtech sector are re-crafting education as a site for the extension of the economic form of the market. Drawing on the work of Michel Callon and focusing on the case of Italy, we consider how policy, commercialisation and changes in educational practice contribute to complex, chaotic and incoherent processes that coalesce in the making of edtech markets. Using network ethnography, we show how three specific edtech market agencements were evident during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in Italy: a); the detachment of edtech from profit through solidarity, re-branding and qualification; b) reintermediation, or the work for the stabilisation of the edtech market through networking and meetingness; and c) the soliciting of the edtech market through affection. What emerges is the description of an overdetermined market, where a complex combination of crises, policies and business are played out in a network of relationships that serve the interests of government and digital capital through the production of needs and necessities into which schools and teachers are inducted . Keywords: edtech market; privatisation; commercialisation; agencement; COVID-19; Italy El mercado italiano de tecnología educativa en ciernes Resumen: En este artículo, exploramos cómo la digitalización, las políticas educativas digitales y las estrategias del sector edtech están redefiniendo la educación como un espacio para la expansión de la forma económica del mercado. Basándonos en el trabajo de Michel Callon y centrándonos en el caso de Italia, consideramos cómo las políticas, la comercialización y los cambios en la práctica educativa contribuyen a procesos complejos, caóticos e incoherentes que convergen en la creación de los mercados edtech. Mediante laetnografía de redes, mostramos cómo tres agencements específicas del mercado edtech se hicieron evidentes durante la crisis de la pandemia de COVID-19 en Italia: a) la separación deedtech del lucro mediante la solidaridad, el cambio de marca y la cualificación; b) lareintermediación, o el trabajo para la estabilización del mercado edtech mediante la creaciónde redes y el encuentro; y c) la captación del mercado edtech a través del afecto. Lo que emerge es la descripción de un mercado sobre determinado, donde una combinación complejade crisis, políticas y negocios se desarrollan en una red de relaciones que sirven a los intereses del gobierno y del capital digital a través de la producción de necesidades y menesteres en los que se ven inducidos las escuelas y los docentes. Palabras-clave: mercado de tecnología educativa; privatización; comercialización; agencement; COVID-19; Italia O mercado italiano de edtech em formação Resumo: Neste artigo, exploramos como a digitalização, as políticas de educação digital e as estratégias do setor de edtech estão reconfigurando a educação como um local para a extensãoda forma

FAQs

What does the article say is driving the creation of EdTech markets in Italy?

It argues that digitalisation, digital education policies, and edtech-sector strategies recast education as an extension of the market’s economic logic, through complex policy and commercialisation processes.

Which theoretical lens does the article use?

The article draws on the work of Michel Callon to interpret how policy and commercialisation help produce market-forming processes in education.

What are the three specific EdTech market agencements identified during the COVID-19 crisis in Italy?

They are: (a) detachment of edtech from profit through solidarity, re-branding and qualification; (b) reintermediation to stabilise the market through networking and meetingness; and (c) soliciting the market through affection.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dawugda