Artificial Intelligence and the future of education

The Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, spoke at the Bett show in London about how the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) could support education in the future. She spoke to how AI will have the power to transform a teacher’s day-to-day work with some people already using it to write lesson plans. More worryingly she seemed to suggest that this was a task that “drained teachers’ time”. nasen is all for using technology to support and develop learning opportunities however, the skill of teachers to devise lessons and resources that support all learners, especially those with SEND through inclusion by design, comes from only truly knowing and understanding the young people in front of them. Lesson planning is a crucial part of designing the environment, allocating resources and planning activities for learning that are meaningful, relevant and support learning for all. AI does not know the pupils in the class nor their needs and this is where the true skill lies in teachers.

We welcome the announcement of the Department for Education of benchmarking against digital and technology standards and their continued commitment to ensure every school has high-speed broadband internet connection by 2025. Increasingly assistive technology is supporting young people with SEND to access the curriculum in the way they need and preparing them for adulthood and being able to access these tools within all settings will be a great step forward.