An AI pilot programme is to be expanded, as the government announced a range of measures aimed at boosting the effective use of AI and technology in education. Speaking earlier this week to delegates at the Bett Show – an EdTech conference – education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced that the government would invest £23million to expand the EdTech Testbed pilot. The pilot, which originally ran for 9 months, will be extended to a four year programme. It will ‘recruit schools and colleges to put the latest edtech to the test in classrooms, analysing their impact on pupil outcomes, including those with SEND, and on teacher workload’. The programme will begin in September this year, and around 1000 schools and colleges are expected to participate.
A few days prior to her speech Phillipson had announced that global technology firms – including Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services – had committed to the new ‘AI product safety expectations in education framework’. The DfE says that the framework, which the firms have been involved in developing, represents ‘the most detailed set of safety expectations for AI in education anywhere in the world’. The government has also announced an upcoming ‘safer digital childhood’ consultation, which will look at screen time, addictive features, social media use by under 16s, and other aspects of children’s digital lives.
In her speech Phillipson said she was ‘so excited about AI’ but also stressed the importance of teachers and other education professionals. She announced additional training for teachers, including a new package of training and guidance for teachers and leaders ‘to help them confidently and safely unlock the time-saving benefits of AI’, and plans for all new teachers to be trained on ‘the effective use of assistive technology to support children with special educational needs and disabilities’. Research suggests that just 13 per cent of teachers received training on accessibility features between 2021 and 2023. Noting that the government has invested £1.6 million to develop lending libraries for assistive technology, Phillipson highlighted an example of assistive technology in action – pupils at a school in Hartlepool who are non-verbal, but now have access to devices that help them speak to their teachers and their classmates for the first-time.
There will also be a new ‘Plan technology for your school’ service, which will aim to help schools prioritise where to invest in technology, based on a personalised assessment of their needs. The service will focus on essential technology which is compliant with digital standards. This will sit alongside an ‘EdTech Evidence Board’, which will be piloted by the Chartered College of Teaching. It will explore how to effectively build evidence of AI products that work well, helping education settings feel confident that they are choosing products that work for them. However, the announcements did not include any mention of additional funding for schools to enable them to purchase technology.
Responding to the announcements, Sarah Hannafin, head of policy for school leaders’ union NAHT, said: ‘Technology which helps create inclusive classrooms, removing barriers to learning and improving engagement and motivation, can be valuable, especially for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). While AI may offer new possibilities when it comes to assistive technology, it’s important that these tools are tested thoroughly in collaboration with schools before being rolled out, and that teachers receive high-quality training on using them safely and effectively. One of the biggest challenges is the variability of access to technology, and the government must ensure that as well as investment in training, there is sufficient funding for hardware and software for all schools so that pupils everywhere can benefit.’