Alignment with Regulations
Demonstrate your company’s alignment with legal obligations, public expectations, and ethical standards by ensuring compliance with applicable regulations and embedding them into your operations and product design.
Why: Education technology operates in a sector where trust, responsibility, and public value are paramount. Regulatory frameworks — such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), accessibility legislation, and national procurement laws — exist to protect learners, institutions, and the wider public interest. They form a baseline of trust, fairness, and accountability.
Aligning with these frameworks is not simply about avoiding legal risk. It is about demonstrating care for the people using your product and respect for the environments in which it is used. As social expectations and legal standards evolve — on topics such as data ethics, accessibility, inclusion, sustainability, and procurement transparency — EdTech companies must also evolve.
When regulations are understood not as burdens, but as shared commitments to quality and dignity, alignment becomes a strength. Companies that take the lead in responsible design and operation are not only more resilient, but also more valued as partners in education.
Maturity levels – Commitments to Alignment with Regulations
Level Zero - Commit to Legal Awareness and Risk Reduction: You commit to understanding and meeting the minimum legal requirements applicable to your product and business operations. At this stage, you actively identify which laws and regulations apply to your context — such as GDPR, accessibility standards, and digital procurement requirements. You avoid shortcuts, document your responsibilities, and begin putting internal safeguards in place. Where needed, you seek professional advice to ensure a sound legal foundation.
Junior Level - Commit to Responsible Implementation: You commit to implementing regulatory requirements thoughtfully and integrating them into your product, policies, and workflows. You publish user-facing privacy policies and terms that are clear and readable. Your team receives training on relevant legal topics. You ensure that your product meets minimum technical standards for data protection and accessibility. You document how you comply with procurement expectations and work transparently with institutions to meet their due diligence needs. You update your internal procedures as regulations evolve.
Medior Level - Commit to Embedded Compliance and Transparent Practice: You commit to embedding compliance into your company culture and ensuring that your systems and governance consistently uphold regulatory standards. You apply privacy-by-design and accessibility-by-default principles. You conduct and maintain records of Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), publish accessibility statements, and are prepared for external audit or public procurement review. Your policies are not static; they are reviewed regularly and improved based on feedback, legal developments, and evolving institutional expectations. You understand that compliance supports long-term trust and business continuity.
Senior level - Commit to Ethical Leadership and Forward-Thinking Alignment: You commit to playing an active role in shaping a regulatory culture that goes beyond compliance and reflects shared values in education and society. You participate in public conversations around responsible technology use and contribute to the development of good practice and policy. You anticipate new regulatory directions and proactively align your systems and design choices with emerging societal values — such as fairness, accessibility, digital wellbeing, and inclusivity. You audit not just for compliance, but for alignment with public expectations. You integrate these standards into hiring, procurement, user design, and communications. You aim to lead by example, helping raise the bar across the sector.
Good examples
A company that clearly explains data collection and user rights before login, provides an accessibility statement, and includes a roadmap for future compliance updates.
An organisation that publishes DPIAs and is able to provide procurement documentation aligned with public-sector requirements.
A team that redesigns features after reviewing how they might unintentionally disadvantage underrepresented or vulnerable groups.
Bad examples
A product with hidden or overly complex legal terms, making it difficult for users to understand their rights.
An EdTech provider that defers responsibility for compliance to institutions, rather than addressing it within their own organisation.
A company that treats regulation as a barrier to innovation, only acting after being prompted by a complaint or audit.