Artificial Intelligence in School
Artificial intelligence - often called AI – has become integrated into everyday life, education and the workplace. Used carefully, it really can help pupils explore ideas, think deeply, practise skills, receive feedback and become more independent learners.
Our philosophy at Brownedge is that AI should support learning, not replace thinking. It must never be used as a shortcut to avoid effort, complete work dishonestly or plagiarised (computer-generated content being presented as your own work).
Our AI approach is centred on:
- safety and safeguarding;
- honesty and academic integrity;
- privacy and data protection;
- critical thinking;
- fairness and inclusion;
- responsible use at school and at home.
What Actually Is Generative AI?
Generative AI tools can create: text, images, audio, video, computer code and much, much more. The quality of your prompt determines how beneficial the output is going to be.
AI tools, or apps with AI within it, can certainly be useful, but they do not truly understand information in the same way that people do. AI technology may produce answers that are inaccurate, biased, misleading or completely invented. Their responses should never be accepted without careful checking.
AI in School
We have explored how and when AI fits into our school practices and curriculum. For this reason, we have, and will continue to refine our curriculum coverage, to ensure all pupils understand, use and respond to AI safely, ethically and responsibly. The foundation of our spiral curriculum is that pupils always safeguard themselves and others when using AI technologies.
Running Paper are an external company who provide a closed system for marking pupil work. This is outlined transparently in our Spiral Curriculum document. This marking provision allows pupils to receive high quality, bespoke feedback on Knowledge Checks, which can then inform future learning and feedforward teaching.
AI Should Help Pupils THINK
We only encourage pupils to use AI technology in ways that strengthen their knowledge, confidence and independence. We teach about AI and how it can support pupils’ wider learning at home.
A helpful question to ask yourself before using AI technology is:
“Is this tool helping me learn, or is it doing the learning for me?”
STOP, CHECK, THINK
AI can ‘sound’ confident, even when it is wrong. It may invent facts, quotations, sources, statistics or references. These are called ‘hallucinations.’ AI even admits it can make mistakes and reminds you to always review and check the information it provides you.
Pupils should use the STOP, CHECK, THINK approach:
AI at Home
Many AI services and related online apps have minimum-age requirements or require parental permission for younger users. Families should check the terms and age restrictions of any service before allowing a child to create an account.
Parents and carers are encouraged to:
- discuss which tools their child is using;
- explore the tool together before allowing regular use;
- agree when and where AI may be used responsibly;
- check privacy settings and account controls (we suggest turning off ‘training the AI model’ in setting);
- remind their child to never share personal information (e.g. log in details, addresses, full names, medical details, private messages);
- encourage breaks and balanced screen use;
- ask their child to explain what they have learned.
Filters and monitoring tools can be helpful, but they cannot replace regular, open conversations. Linking to this, any safeguarding concerns should be reported through the school’s usual reporting procedures or directly to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
It is important to remember that AI is always changing and evolving, and what is most important is that WE decide whether to use it or not, and it will never replace human thinking.
Frequently Asked Questions also here: