AI in Schools: Empowering Educators to Build a Future-Ready Generation

We’ve looked into the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in education lately, but it only felt appropriate to take another look based on a recent take from the Department for Education (DfE). It felt like an important reminder that AI isn’t just something students will encounter at school or university; it’s going to dominate the workplace soon, too.

There have been lots of comparisons made between the dawn of AI and the dawn of the internet. It’s safe to say almost all of us use the internet in our personal and work lives now; you wouldn’t be reading this otherwise. So, if that statement is even somewhat true, it becomes a responsibility to make sure the next generation is educated on the use of AI.

Understanding Generative AI

Think ChatGPT and Gemini – more than just tools, they're pivotal to the future. The DfE highlights the importance of students not just using AI but becoming proficient in it. It's about having an essential toolkit that opens doors in an ever-changing workplace.

Another analogy I’ve heard plenty of times lately is that ‘AI won’t take your job; the person who uses AI will’. It’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the message rings true - those of us who can use tools like ChatGPT are going to have a massive advantage over those who can’t. I like to think of it as having an assistant who can parse the internet for information in seconds and pick out key points. It’s not something a human could ever be taught to do, but they can be taught to benefit from it.

Crafting AI literacy as educators

The DfE's message is clear; integrating AI into the learning experience is not an option; it's a necessity. You're shaping minds that don't just understand AI but embrace it as a fundamental part of their educational journey. Ultimately, we’ve already reached a point where a lot of students will expect to use AI tools as part of their learning.

Even if we don’t provide them, they’ll go out and find them. I just tried Googling ‘AI for essay writing’ - 1,550,000,000 results. Needless to say, the majority of students would have no trouble making the same search. One of the best things we can do is make sure they’re using AI in a productive way, one that keeps them engaged in the learning process and actually enhances it.

I’m going to steal an analogy from the wonderful Jason Gulya on how generative AI can be used to enhance a student’s experience in, let’s say, essay writing. The student could be tasked with…

1. Reading the assignment

2. Creating their answer

3. Sharing their approach with someone else

4. Finding the gap between their approaches

5. Getting ChatGPT to complete the assignment

6. Reanalysing the gaps. What was the AI's approach?

7. Deciding what was valuable from each approach

8. Creating a new one together

This task is not AI-led. The student is still engaged and doing the heavy lifting in terms of analysis; the AI is there to prompt ideas they may otherwise not have had. It’s there to support rather than replace.

As educators, we’re responsible for ensuring this is how AI is used in the classroom.

It’s no walk in the park

Just like any journey, AI in education comes with its challenges. The DfE cautions about potential pitfalls – inaccurate content, biases, you name it. But the real challenge is making sure we provide students with all the benefits of AI, even against that backdrop.

Strategies can be adopted to take on obstacles head-on, and blanket anti-AI policies run the risk of doing more harm than good in the long term. Leaving students with AI illiteracy will do them no favours in the next generation of work.

Looking to the future

Regardless of our opinions on AI, it’s set to stay. It’ll be a big part of everyone's lives over the coming decades and has the potential to revolutionise the workplace. The conversation shouldn’t be about if AI should be used in education, but how. Mitigating concerns around safety whilst teaching students the correct use of generative AI will form the basis of this.

Want some proof of the value of AI in the workplace? Look back at the step-by-step guide on using AI in essay writing, it’s exactly how I wrote this blog!