AI in our schools.
Where do we start?
Grab a cuppa. It's 7 short chapters, about 10 minutes on your phone. I'm not going to turn you into an AI expert (I promise). It's just a friendly starting point: what AI is, what it can do, where we fit in as governors, and the questions worth asking.
Swipe or tap Next. If anything sparks a question, tap Ask Neil and send them all to me at the end. There's a cheatsheet to download at the end too.
I'm Neil. A governor, like you.
- Parent governor at a Hounslow primary schoolBoth my boys go there, so this matters to me as a parent too.
- I work in technology and AISo I spend my days seeing what these tools are brilliant at, and where they fall flat.
- I've spent time in a number of schoolsSeeing how staff are really using AI, and helping set it up properly at my own school.
Here's the thing I keep seeing: AI is already being used in every school I visit. What's usually missing is someone owning it, and an honest conversation with staff and parents. That's where we come in.
Tools that write, plan and summarise. And they're already in our schools.
When people say "AI in schools", they usually mean tools like Copilot, Gemini and ChatGPT. You type what you need, and it writes a first draft. Teachers are using them for lesson ideas and letters home. Our kids are bumping into them at home and every time they Google something.
- ✓Already in useBy staff in most schools, whether leaders know it or not.
- ✓Rarely coveredBy a clear school policy, yet.
- ✓Easy to get rightOnce the basics are in place.
So the question isn't whether AI comes into our schools. That ship has sailed. The question is whether we lead it, or leave it to chance.
Tell me more: why does a "school account" matter?
Most of these tools come in two flavours. The free, personal version someone signs up for at home, and the version that comes with the school's Microsoft or Google account.
The school version keeps what staff type inside the school's own data protections, and it isn't used to train the AI. With a personal account, the school can't see or protect what goes in.
So a big part of "getting it right" is simply moving staff onto the school version they probably already have.
The government's leaning in. Schools are asking for help.
- DfESays AI is here to stay and wants it used to back teachers, with clear expectations on personal data and safe products.
- KCSIESafeguarding guidance now refers to AI, including filtering and monitoring.
- Sept 2026A major report said schools are crying out for trusted guidance, and called for a governor-approved AI strategy in every school.
- By 2030The DfE wants every school meeting its core digital standards, including leadership and governance.
My honest take: nobody's going to turn up with a finished answer for us. It's down to each school, and us as governors, to set a sensible direction. The good news? The basics are pretty well understood.
What is AI? Spoiler: you already use it every day.
- Rule-following AISpam filters, automatic doors. Responds to fixed rules.
- Learning AIMaps traffic, Netflix suggestions. Learns from past data to predict.
- Generative AICopilot, Gemini, ChatGPT. Creates new text, images and resources from patterns in huge amounts of data. This is the one we mean.
One thing worth knowing: generative AI doesn't actually "know" anything. It makes a very good guess at what a good answer looks like. That's why it's brilliant at first drafts, and why a human always needs to check.
Tell me more: words you'll hear
- Generative AI
- AI that creates something new: text, images, a worksheet.
- Large language model (LLM)
- The engine inside tools like ChatGPT. Trained on huge amounts of text, so it's very good at predicting what a good answer should look like.
- Prompt
- What you type in. Clearer prompts get better answers, first time.
- Hallucination
- When AI gives a confident answer that's simply wrong or made up.
- Copilot and Gemini
- Microsoft's and Google's AI assistants. Most schools already have one through their school accounts.
- Chatbot
- Any tool you talk to by typing questions and getting answers back.
- AI agent
- Newer AI that can carry out tasks on your behalf, like booking or sorting emails, not just answer questions. Worth extra care.
- Human in the loop
- A person checks and decides before anything is used. The golden rule.
So what can it actually do for a school?
- 1Reports and lettersA first draft in minutes, then the teacher makes it personal.
- 2Lesson planning and resourcesIdeas, quizzes and worksheets, faster.
- 3Adapting for SEND and EALRewriting a text for a different reading age, or translating a letter.
- 4AdminMinutes, summaries, newsletters, policies.
- 5LeadershipImprovement plans and governor reports, drafted then refined.
- 6A thinking partnerHelping leaders test an idea, plan a tricky conversation or check feedback against a marking framework, before they decide.
Tell me more: what does that look like in real life?
A Year 4 teacher asks for a reading comprehension on the Romans at three reading levels. A draft comes back in a minute. She checks it, tweaks two questions and it's ready.
The school office turns rough notes from a meeting into a clear letter home, then a person reads it before it goes out.
The SENCo rewrites a worksheet in simpler language for a pupil who needs it, with no names involved.
None of these replace the teacher. They take away the blank page, so the time goes back into teaching.
And what it can't do. (That bit's still on us.)
- ✕It doesn't know your childrenOnly your staff know the child behind the data.
- ✕It isn't always rightIt can sound totally confident and still be wrong. So people check.
- ✕It doesn't have judgementDecisions about pupils and staff stay with the professionals.
- ✕It can't be held accountableThe school can. That's why oversight matters.
Tell me more: what's a "hallucination"?
Ask AI for a source to back up a point and it might give you an author, a title and a year that all look perfect. Then you go looking and it doesn't exist.
It isn't lying. It's doing what it was built to do: produce something that looks like a good answer. That's why everything gets checked by a person before it's used.
We steer. The school drives.
Good news: you already know how to do this. Our three core jobs work for AI just like they do for everything else.
Strategy
Why are we using AI, and what should it achieve for our school?
Accountability
Are staff trained? Is pupil data protected? Is it covered in safeguarding, copyright and cyber security? Is it actually helping?
Value for money
Is it affordable and sustainable, are we using what we already pay for first, and were the right checks done before buying anything new?
Which tool a teacher picks on a Tuesday morning is the school's call. Whether the school has a clear, safe plan is ours.
Tell me more: what does this look like in a meeting?
We wouldn't ask "which prompt did Mrs Smith use for her Year 3 plans?" That's operational.
We would ask "how do we know staff are only using approved tools, and has everyone had training?" That's strategic.
Lots of boards simply give AI to an existing link governor (often safeguarding or curriculum) and ask for a short update in the head's report each term. No new committee needed.
Strategic, operational, or both?
Six quick ones. There's genuinely no wrong answer, and I'll tell you how I see each one.
One more. Your head's report is the best you've ever read. Then they mention AI helped write it.
Be honest, how do you feel?
Tell me more: now flip it. What if it's you using AI on the papers?
The head's report is 20 pages, you've had a mad week, so you ask AI for a one-page summary and some questions to ask. Tempting, right?
It's fine as a first read, but a few things to weigh up:
Has anything been missed? A summary picks headlines, and the detail that matters to your school can be the bit it drops.
Where did the papers go? Governor papers are often confidential. Only use a tool the school has approved, never a personal account.
Tone and nuance. How something is worded often tells you as much as what it says. That's exactly where governors add value.
So: a handy starting point, never a replacement for reading the papers yourself.
So, where's your school right now?
No judgement here. Tap the one that sounds most like your board and I'll tell you what I'd do next.
Eight questions to take to your next meeting.
You don't need to know the answers. Asking them is the job, and it's a great way to start the conversation.
- 1How are staff using AI today, and on which accounts?
- 2What do we want AI to achieve for our school?
- 3Which tools are approved, and who decides?
- 4What training have all staff had, including support staff?
- 5How do we keep pupil data and photos out of the wrong tools?
- 6Is AI covered in our safeguarding and filtering reviews?
- 7What do parents know about how we use AI?
- 8How will we know it's saving time and improving practice?
Tell me more: further along? Five deeper questions
If your board already has the basics in place, these take the conversation up a gear. The shift is from "yes or no to AI?" to "why AI, and when?"
Tell me more: what does a good answer sound like?
Good for drafting. Not for deciding.
Drafting letters, reports and plans. Lesson ideas and resources. Adapting texts for different needs. Summarising long documents for a first read.
Anything using anonymised pupil work, on school-approved tools, with a teacher checking the output.
Pupil names, photos or sensitive details in any tool the school hasn't approved. AI marking or making decisions about pupils. Pupil-facing AI without a data protection and safeguarding check.
The simplest way I explain it to staff: it's about the data, not the tool. No personal info? Crack on. Named pupils? Stop and check first.
Tell me more: what does "anonymised" mean?
Nothing that could identify a child: no names, initials, photos, dates of birth or class lists.
Fine: "A Year 5 pupil wrote this paragraph. Suggest two next steps."
Not fine: "Amelia in 5B wrote this. She has an EHCP for..."
If in doubt, take it out. And use the school-approved tool, not a personal one.
The risks, honestly. And how we handle each one.
- Pupil data in the wrong placeApproved tools, school accounts, a clear data rule.
- Safeguarding: deepfakes, AI "companions"AI in filtering and monitoring, and in DSL guidance.
- Confident but wrongA person checks everything before it's used.
- Over-reliance and biasStaff trained to question, edit and keep their judgement.
- Long-term effect on learningNobody knows yet, because the research doesn't exist. So go steady with pupil-facing AI and keep teaching children to think for themselves.
- Energy and costUse the tools you already have, and prompt well first time.
Schools already handle this stuff brilliantly with the internet, email and social media. AI just needs the same muscle.
Tell me more: deepfakes and AI "companions"
Deepfakes are realistic fake images, video or audio of real people, and sadly that can include pupils and staff. Worth checking they're covered in the behaviour, anti-bullying and safeguarding policies.
AI companions are chatbot apps designed to act like a friend. Older children can get very attached, and some have given harmful advice. It's mostly a secondary-age issue, but younger children are meeting them too.
The governor question is simple: is this in our DSL's training, and in our filtering and monitoring checks?
The questions I get asked the most.
Tap to open.
No more than a calculator or spellcheck. A professional checks and owns the result. A teacher who uses AI for a first draft and then edits it is doing exactly what we'd want.
To draft and review, yes, with personal details kept out unless an approved tool allows it. The teacher reads, edits and owns every word that goes home.
Personal accounts don't have the school's data protections, and the school can't see or support what's happening. Most schools already have Copilot or Gemini on school accounts. Start there.
Yes, at home and in every web search. That's why teaching them to use and question it matters, alongside age-appropriate rules in school.
As a first read, perhaps, but never instead of reading. Nuance, context and tone are exactly where governors add value.
There's no official list. Start with Copilot or Gemini on school accounts, then add specialist tools through a simple request and check.
Not a chance. Our job is to ask good questions and check things are in hand. Honestly, reading this far already puts you ahead of most.
What "in place" looks like.
If your school has these six, it's in a really good place. Worth asking which ones you've already got.
- ✓A dedicated AI policySigned off by governors, naming approved tools.
- ✓A safe use guide for staffDo's and don'ts, including no personal accounts.
- ✓Staff sign-offEveryone confirms they've read and understood it.
- ✓TrainingHands-on, on real tasks, for all staff.
- ✓A parent letter and website noticeSo families know what we do and don't do.
- ✓AI in safeguardingCovered in filtering, monitoring and DSL guidance, and reviewed yearly.
Where to start? Here's what works in the schools I support.
- 1Ask the questionA no-blame staff survey: who's using what, and on which accounts?
- 2Agree the toolsUsually Copilot or Gemini on school accounts, which most schools already have.
- 3Write it downA short policy and a one-page staff agreement. Governors approve.
- 4Tell people and train themA letter to parents, and hands-on training for staff.
About a term, start to finish, and honestly very doable. If you want a head start, there's a free AI policy template on my website.
Tell me more: want to read further?
Thanks for sticking with me. What would you like to ask?
Drop me any questions below and I'll reply personally, no sales pitch. And if you found this useful, please pass it on to another governor.