AI and Schools
Artificial Intelligence has made a rapid entrance into many of our lives in the last 2 years and for staff and students alike our schools are no exception. From using generative AI tools like ChatGPT for homework through to the AI images, deepfakes, and Chatbots on social media our school age students have a new digital world to navigate. “AI is already central to children’s digital environment, through recommendation algorithms or automated decision-making systems” Generative AI: Risks and opportunities for children | Innocenti Global Office of Research and Foresight
As a newly emerging technology there is little evidence as to how AI will impact learning and teaching in the future but with guidance reaching schools this new school year as to how AI can benefit teaching it is time to look at the positives and risk factors for AI across all aspects of education.
AI and Teaching:
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the guidance sent to schools around the use of AI aimed to “cut workloads”. “We’re putting cutting-edge AI tools into the hands of our brilliant teachers to enhance how our children learn and develop – freeing teachers from paperwork so they can focus on what parents and pupils need most: inspiring teaching and personalised support,” she said. Article here.
The personal student/teacher learning relationship can never be replaced by AI, but possibly could be improved by this freeing up of teachers’ time
“AI has various opportunities to be used by teachers in education, such as:
- drafting ideas for lesson plans and other activities
- producing tailored learning information for students with different needs
- automating repetitive administrative tasks
- reducing workloads, including marking”
A study conducted by the NSPCC states that the “Potential benefits of Gen AI include that it can deliver tailored and personalised learning systems for children; these can adapt and evolve to remain customised to a child’s changing learning style, to deliver the most impactful possible learning experience.” Viewing Generative AI and children’s safety in the round
While there may be many benefits of generative AI it also brings significant risks to children and young people and, for teachers and schools, safeguarding has to extend to this digital world.
“Gen AI technology is not without its significant drawbacks. As early as 2019, we began receiving contacts from children…about harms they have experienced from artificial intelligence”
Viewing Generative AI and children’s safety in the round
“One of the most concerning aspects of AI is its ability to generate and distribute harmful content” The Risks and Benefits of AI Safety for Children – Digital Resistance
Importance of Educating in AI:
AI has the potential to be used to support teaching and learning in many ways, and in the increasingly digital society our students are going to be entering into, having the skills and knowledge to use AI effectively is of growing importance. ChatGPT won’t be unfamiliar to most UK secondary school students and “a survey by the National Literacy Trust found the proportion of 13- to 18-year-olds who say they have used generative AI has risen from 37% in 2023 to 77% in 2024.” Source – students are more and more comfortable with generative AI as an everyday part of their learning toolkit, but must understand the risks associated with relying on generative AI and not knowing how to effectively utilise these tools “More than 4 in 5 (82.0%) (teachers) agreed that students should be taught how to engage critically with generative AI tools and 3 in 4 (75.3%) teachers said they also needed more training, support and resources to use generative AI tools effectively.” Source
How Can We Help!?
It looks like AI is around to stay and as schools adapt to ensure they are they are equipped to teach students how to safely engage with generative AI please talk to us at Hardy’s about our Photo Manipulation Workshops; giving students the chance to take photos, build valuable skills and take part in hands on activities exploring how AI can be used to manipulate images. See our AI and photo manipulation workshop in action here. Please get in touch to find out more.
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