K-12 Education Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The K-12 Education Market was valued at USD 3,259.36 million in 2021 and is expected to register a CAGR of 9.53% over the forecast period (2022 - 2027). The market is driven by schools shifting from the traditional blackboard approach to integrating smart technology into learning environments. The learning trend encompasses a broad range of activities, tools, and services that aim to improve the educational outcomes of students.

Key Highlights

• The increasing job opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have boosted the demand for STEM education. Students who successfully score high grades in competitive examinations are eligible for admission into higher educational institutions. Hence, parents, students, and various stakeholders emphasize basic STEM education in schools worldwide.
• With the advent of technology, many educational institutions have started implementing learning management systems (LMS), software, or web-based applications that provide access to a central, integrated space for educational resources, including content resources, assessment tools, grading tools, and administrative tools. According to the National Center for Scholastic Statistics, nearly all of the public schools in the United States are connected to the internet providing various educational resources, track of logins for entire classrooms of students, a portal through which students can see assignments and grades easily, and many more.
• The Middle East and African region also witnessed a steep growth in adopting online learning platforms. In December 2021, the Qatar Minister of Education launched the flexible learning pathways initiative to improve professional skills for K-12 education, higher education, and professional development. The initiative would be launched by FutureX, the national eLearning platform, in collaboration with Coursera, Edx, Udacity, and FutureLearn, the international platforms.
• The application of online learning in the high school curriculum has been carried out for a long. Furthermore, the market is witnessing strategic partnerships to capitalize on the growing demand. For instance, in July 2022, TMRW, an ed-tech company, partnered with TCS to offer digital learning platforms for K-12 instruction in Indian schools. An integrated learning operating system is present in TMRW (LearnOS).
• The K-12 education market comprises prominent players, such as Blackboard Inc., ALMA, and Pearson Education Inc. Brand identities majorly influence the market. Strong brands are synonymous with good performance, so long-standing players are expected to have the upper hand.
• The spread of COVID-19 worldwide put academic, social, and economic systems to the test. According to UNESCO's monitoring, over 181 nations undertook countrywide school closures, affecting over 1.5 billion kids. It also brought the digital divide to the forefront of the education conversation, and many school districts have traditionally discouraged virtual learning because not all students have access. According to the ministry of Tunisia, the cell phone was the most extensively used service for middle and secondary education, with a share of 46.1% of penetration among other devices such as tablets and computers.

Key Market Trends

Growing Popularity of Online Learning to Drive the Market

• Software solutions provide institutions with well-organized enterprise resource planning systems that help faculty members build improved courses and manage classrooms and schools proficiently. Online education platforms create virtual classrooms, enabling teachers to manage a large audience without any budget constraints. Online education offers students more one-on-one time with their instructors. And most K-12 online programs are inexpensive or even tuition-free.
• Mobile devices are growing for smart learning due to their portability and convenience in accessing content and social interactions. Also, students and teachers communicate effectively and efficiently with simple clicks to obtain feedback. The learning outcomes for both ability and knowledge can be smartly measured and observed through the latest ICT technologies.
• With children growing accustomed to using technology from a younger age, everything is quickly becoming digitalized and is tailored to this new generation. When students are already familiar with watching YouTube videos or scrolling through news articles on their phones, having to sit and listen to a teacher in a classroom is something that they may struggle with. Their way of consuming information has changed; therefore, the concept of being able to sit and learn from their device is perceived as a more precedent and appealing method of educating themselves.
• Institutions utilize software such as Blackboard, which allows them to manage courses and provides students with access to modular information and resources. There are now countless platforms that can help emulate a teacher and student's interactions in a classroom, such as Skype. While some argue that online learning lacks the social aspect or physical interaction in a classroom, social media has revolutionized this and allows students to interact in real-time.
• Online learning not only means that students can access information from wherever they are but also ensures that resources are always available. For example, students can access books online instead of visiting a library. Whether they are at an airport or on a long train journey, everything is accessible. Therefore, with younger students having busier lives and always being on the move, online education may better suit their lifestyles.

Asia Pacific to Hold Significant Market Share

• In the Asia Pacific region, the K-12 education market is growing at a fast rate owing to the adoption of online learning by millions of learners. Several countries are putting their entire K-12 curriculum online. The growth is driven mainly by countries like China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia, among others.
• The associated consequences of such continuous school closures are staggering and include learning loss, mental distress; missed school meals and routine vaccinations; heightened risk of dropping out of structured education; increased child labor; and increased child marriage. According to the Report, education budgets in the region will need to increase by an average of 10% to catch up with such losses if Asia is to reach the education targets of the UN 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals in the next nine years. These challenging times have pushed government agencies and public and private institutions to invest in education technology alternation for continued knowledge flow.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be the driving force in boosting e-learning. The E-learning market is driven by the surging need for EdTech & Smart Classrooms amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. To overcome the challenges in adopting solutions such as LMS platforms in April 2022, IBEForuM hosted the Digital Learning APAC Summit to decipher the hindrance faced by the education sector in the APAC Region.
• Leading EdTech companies, such as Panl, collaborated with Google for Education to enable pilot schools across APAC to build a body of deep academic evidence demonstrating how schools can fully benefit from Google's education tools and improve teaching and learning at scale.
• India is one of the biggest potential markets for E-learning platforms and LMS systems. New educational policies and initiatives are being taken by the government to provide the student the liberty. To choose from the variety of subjects they would like to study across streams.
• Recently, the ministry of human resource development was renamed the ministry of education, and this education ministry has released a new education policy with a vision to reshape the education system of India by 2040. It has proposed to set up a new national assessment center, the PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), to regularly check the education system.

Competitive Landscape

K-12 Education Market is fragmented in nature as there are many companies competing for market share. Major players include McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson Education Inc., Stride Inc. (k12 Inc.), and others. A few recent developments are:

• January 2022 - Pearson announced the acquisition of Credly, the significant provider of digital workforce credentialing. The acquisition of Credly, in which Pearson already has a nearly 20% investment, would enhance the company's presence in the workforce skills sector, adding a sophisticated credentialing service to its workforce analysis, learning, and assessment capabilities.
• November 2021 - McGraw Hill completed the previously announced acquisition of Achieve3000, a recognized pioneer in individualized instruction and learning acceleration for PreK-12 students throughout all 50 states and 48 countries. It enables McGraw Hill to provide a broader range of exceptional digital learning solutions that support teachers, engage students, and improve learning outcomes.

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