Are governments failing schools when it comes to AI?

10 replies

Governments are just faffing about, treating AI like a fancy new calculator rather than the complete game-changer it actually is. Right now, they’re just tinkering within the old system. They’re panicking over pupils cheating and buying obsolete AI detectors... or showing teachers how to write the same old lesson plans a bit faster. They are completely missing the point!We don’t need to make...

While AI literacy is widely touted as an educational imperative, fewer than one in five teachers has received meaningful professional learning on how to navigate it. Instead of sustained investment, schools are left with sporadic workshops that force educators into trial-and-error experimentation. As outlined in the Learning Forward Standards for Professional Learning, real shifts in practice...

I do believe governments are failing the schools. Whether we like it or not, the current generation of students will be utilizing AI in their lives. AI is in almost everything they use (social media, games, jobs, automobiles, etc.). If we want a prepared workforce, we need to teach these students the proper uses of AI.

Reading through the replies, the same two needs come up: better professional development, and students who can think critically with AI. I agree with both, and I think they stall for the same reason. Neither one tells a teacher what to change in Tuesday's lesson.Policy moves slowly and PD days are rare. The lesson plan is the one thing a teacher controls every day. For a single lesson, a...

I think governments are failing schools when they confuse publishing guidance with preparing people to act on it.Some useful work has been done, let's acknowledge that. In England, the DfE has produced training modules, guidance for leaders, data-protection advice and safety standards for AI products. The European Commission has also updated its guidance for teachers.But the gap between policy...

Governments are failing schools when it comes to AI, just as they are with most things. There is an inherent disconnect between government and public education. As long as tech companies and interest groups can lobby far beyond what schools can, the best interests of students and educators will not be the government's priority. Say nothing of the fact that funding and policy priority are often...

Governments are failing schools when it comes to AI. Risks are valid concerns by all but teaching true agency through discernment is also important. We aren't teaching students how to think critically with AI and that is a huge problem. It's as if this school year our AI use has come to an abrupt halt compared to that of the previous two to three years. I am greatly concerned for our student...

By their very nature, democratic Governments are focussed on "appeasement", not advancement. The revolution is left to the people, while the politicians wait to see what will gain them more popularity (Votes = Power). If, for example, it is trendy to flog the horse that AI will make kids brainless or snatch jobs or DESTROY humanity, they will shout over each other to burn it at the stake....

Yes. I get that there needs to be some researcha nd investigating but it seems to have goteen stuck at that point. Government and schools needs to stop looking at AI as just something else to shove in a class or a lesson and see it as the societal shift that it is

Thank you so much Javier for your view, I couldn't agree more! I have been saying that since 2022 but the worry that some professors might loose their jobs because they are unwilling to start from scratch made downplay my ideas. Thanks for sharing!