Tech goliath Apple has manoeuvred itself to exert “unprecedented global influence” on teacher professional learning, qualifications and classroom practice without having publicly disclosed the evidence behind their offerings, new research has argued.

As part of a broader study, ACU senior research fellow Dr Steven Lewis investigated how the Apple Teacher program leverages the company's global reach to market its own ‘vision’ of teacher knowledge and expertise.

Lewis told EducationHQ that with the increasing expectation that teachers must take responsibility for their own professional learning, EdTech companies were seizing the opportunity and stepping in with products and services.

Traditional professional learning for educators – run by experts or consultants – has been “superseded”, he indicated.

“Apple, as a tech company, really doesn't have anything to do with education whatsoever – beyond the thing we're a bit more familiar with, which is them providing technology hardware and software for the classroom.

“But when I looked into it, you can see pretty quickly that Apple is also offering a really quite sophisticated package to individual teachers,” Lewis said.

In the Apple Teacher program, Lewis said educators were given access to Apple certified ‘experts’ and were able to earn proficiency ‘badges’ by completing various quizzes and modules.

He found more than 100 lessons and tutorials available on the Apple Teacher Learning Centre which were designed to build teacher proficiency with Apple products and then integrate them into the classroom.

Teachers could also qualify as an ‘Apple Distinguished Educator’ (ADE), or become an ‘Apple Learning Coach’ (ALC) – a qualification which comes with options for credit at Lamar University in Texas.

Schools might also seek recognition as an ‘Apple Distinguished School’, if more than 75 per cent of their staff have Apple Teacher status, Lewis noted.

“The thing that I found really interesting about it, is that in many respects, Apple was presenting themselves as no different to any other … teacher professional learning provider.

“They just also happen to have that big brand name of Apple behind them, which really drives (that) recognition. [The presumption is] they make great iPhones and iPads, so presumably, they also do great professional learning.”

Lewis noted that while the total number of Apple Teachers is not publicly available, there are currently 47 Apple Distinguished Schools in Australia out of 689 around the world.

He said with the clear financial incentives in play, the company ought to be more transparent about the research base that’s informing their programs and resources for teachers.

“They don't openly or publicly cite the research they are drawing on – if they do rely on research to inform their professional learning.

“…they're also developing school curricula … but without providing the evidence of what they're using, you're left with nothing much really at the surface but the Apple reputation.

“And obviously, that is really problematic from my perspective…”

It is understandable, Lewis said, that overworked and stressed out teachers would turn to a “free, recognisable and internationally available” program for professional support.

“Any port in a storm is notionally good, if you're looking for things, and particularly if we're saying to teachers, ‘Look, you're going to need to use evidence in the classroom, you're going to need to do a certain number of professional learning hours to maintain your registration’.

"If something comes along, that's free, that's glossy, that's got that Apple brand name recognition behind [it] ... then I think there is a bit of an inclination to think, 'OK, it's got to be good’, there's got to be a sort of assumed quality behind it.