Government launches AI guidance for schools – but will it deliver a "revolution"?

The Department for Education has introduced a series of initiatives aimed at transforming how AI is used in schools – including the release of its first-ever AI guidance for schools and colleges – building on promises made by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson at January's BETT show to bring about "a digital revolution in schools".

The new guidance, developed by the Chiltern Learning Trust and Chartered College of Teaching, addresses a clear need – 43% of teachers rate their AI confidence at just 3/10, with over 60% asking for help (according to the government’s research on public attitudes towards AI in education, published last August). The materials offer practical support on safe AI usage, with particular emphasis on data protection and maintaining teacher oversight. Use cases are (for now, at least) focused on creating educational resources, lesson and curriculum planning, tailored feedback and revision activities, administrative tasks, and supporting personalised learning activities) – all areas designed to free up teachers’ time from “paperwork”, enabling them to devote more of their energies towards actual teaching and directly supporting learners.

An additional £1 million of Contracts for Innovation funding has also been announced, designed to accelerate the development of AI tools to help with marking and generating detailed student feedback (building on the project to develop “trustworthy  AI tools” to tackle teachers’ workloads last summer).

Whilst these measures do align with the wider £187m TechFirst programme announced this week (though that encompasses all digital skills training, not just education – see Government commits £1bn to AI infrastructure development), and is part of the government’s AI tools and guidance narrative for schools – established soon after Labour came to power, last summer – the practical challenges remain substantial.

Questions around bias, accuracy, and the quality of AI-generated content need addressing. Most critically, as the government’s policy paper on GenAI in education acknowledges, "it cannot replace the judgement and deep subject knowledge of a human expert".

Although these are indeed positive steps toward modernising education, calling it a "revolution" seems premature. The real test will be whether schools – already stretched for resources and training time – can effectively implement these tools at scale (and that they have the intended impact on learner experience and outcomes).

Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 09:28

Tags: schools   guidance   teachers   AI tools   learners