Articles
Plain answers about AI in schools
Short, plain reads for school leaders, teachers, parents and carers.
For school leaders
A quick, fair way to approve the AI tools teachers want to use
Send every request to one person, ask the same short questions of every tool, give a reason for every answer, and keep one approved list that you review each year.
Turning department AI guidance into school practice
Read the guidance as a list of jobs. Sort each line by how firmly it binds, give each job an owner, write it in your school's words with the source beside it, and check it yearly.
New graduate teachers and AI: what they bring, and what they need from schools
New teachers often arrive confident with AI. They need clear school rules with reasons, an approved tool list, mentoring on professional judgement, and someone to ask without blame.
What goes in a school AI use policy
Six short parts that build on department policy: staff rules, tool approval, privacy and consent, a plan for AI-made fakes, notes for families and students, and a staff briefing.
If your teachers already use AI, what should the school do next?
Start from how staff use AI now. Agree a few firm rules, approve the tools they rely on and train everyone, with help rather than penalties for honest past use.
Where does student data go? Questions to ask before you approve an AI tool
Student data goes wherever the company's terms allow. Before you approve an AI tool, answer six questions from the company's own pages for the plan your school will use.
For teachers
Does an AI tool learn from what your students type?
It depends on the company and the plan. Some train their AI on what people type, some do not, and some do unless a setting is turned off. The default setting is the one to check.
AI and maths tests: the teacher writes, the software marks
Keep writing your own maths tests. Let software compute the answer key exactly, help with marking, and show you the misconceptions behind wrong answers.
Why one-shot AI worksheets let teachers down
A worksheet made from one AI prompt often misses your curriculum, has unchecked answers and tells you little about how students think. Use AI for drafts you check instead.
Paper still matters: where AI fits with printed work
Keep students' thinking on paper where it works best, and use AI around it, in planning and checking. Take care when paper work is scanned into a tool.
Report comments and AI: keep student names out
Student names do not need to reach an AI tool. Use a comment bank with placeholders, add names in your reporting system, and write each final comment yourself.
How to review a teaching resource in five minutes
Check four things in order (curriculum fit, errors, difficulty and clarity), then decide to use, fix or drop it. A quick review cannot show whether students learned.
Where does student data go? Questions to ask before you approve an AI tool
Student data goes wherever the company's terms allow. Before you approve an AI tool, answer six questions from the company's own pages for the plan your school will use.
For parents and carers
AI at your child's school: questions you can ask
You can ask which AI tools your child uses, what information they receive, where it goes and what the school's rules are. Here are the questions, and what a good answer sounds like.
Does an AI tool learn from what your students type?
It depends on the company and the plan. Some train their AI on what people type, some do not, and some do unless a setting is turned off. The default setting is the one to check.