Key takeaways on Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in Education

The Government produced a policy paper on this topic on the 10th June 2025 which can be found here:

Within the policy paper there is also a really useful power point presentation for school leaders on the safe and effective use of AI in education, Within this there are 10 audit pages containing questions – the DfE suggests going through and answering the questions relating your current position and then create a plan based on what has been learnt in the toolkit. The link to the audit pages can be found here:

Leadership_presentation_on_the_safe_and_effective_use_of_AI_in_education.pptx

Using AI in education?

Within the policy paper the DfE confirm that they are making strides to support the AI opportunities action plan. DfE are making strides to support the AI Opportunities Action Plan. If AI is used in a safe way, the government recognises that it can be very beneficial to young people in relation to their education and will assist in helping them to further develop their knowledge and skills they will need for the future. The government also recognises that the use of AI in education may be  beneficial to staff and students alike as it is a great tool to help with:

• Activity focused slides;

• Video presentations with accompanying transcripts​;

• Summaries of the information presented;

• Activities to consolidate knowledge, such as multiple-choice questions​;

• Feedback and tailored support; and

• Templates to help with  reflection and planning

As such, this enables teachers to focus on teaching and reduce the administrative burden that comes with a role in the education sector. Within the Government guidance, it is clear that they see immediate benefits and fewer risks from teacher-facing use of Generative AI.

If schools and colleges choose to use pupil-facing generative AI they must take great care to ensure they are abiding by their legal responsibilities, in particular: data protection, keeping children safe in education and intellectual property law.

Using AI safely

The Department for Education do seem very keen on the use of AI in education, however, they are very clear that there are safety risks,  and that these need to be identified and balanced with the need to be more efficient and using Gen AI to do this. The answer to this dichotomy seems to be a AI custom model – but this could be really costly.

When considering the safety of using Gen AI, there is a concern that the content produced can be inaccurate, unsafe, biased, taken out of context and therefore unreliable.  This is due to the fact that the results are based on training dataset which may not be specific to the curriculum.

As such, the policy paper advises that teachers should always check for accuracy and appropriateness before relying on the produced content. This will ensure that technology is used safely and effectively in delivering education. Schools should also ensure that they are compliant with their legal responsibilities so that any data entered should not contain information that could allow an individual to be identified and also be aware that  results produced by Gen AI can contain details for illegal or harmful activities.

When using AI, Schools should:

Ø  State the intended use of AI - the benefits should outweigh the risks – especially schools teaching those under 18;

Ø  Check whether there are specific uses  of Gen AI which may have  not been explicitly approved/adopted in their setting;

Ø  Carry out risk assessments which includes plans for mitigating against unauthorised use cases;

Ø  Ensure that statutory obligations such as keeping children safe in education are complied with;

Ø  Make sure appropriate safeguards are  put in place (including but not limited to close supervision and filtering and monitoring features) – this should be included in the school’s related policies and procedures;

Ø  Comply with age restrictions set by AI tools;

Ø  Refer to the governments guidance on generative AI product safety expectations; and

Ø  Review homework policies and other types of unsupervised study

Data Protection considerations

The government recommends that personal data is not used in Gen AI. Schools and colleges should also be open and transparent if using automated decision-making and profiling such as AI chatbots or AI digital assistants. If it is strictly  necessary to use such personal data, schools are encouraged to seek agreement to use data in an AI tool and ensure that pupils and parents/legal guardians understand that their personal data is being processed using AI tools.

Intellectual property considerations

Copyrighted materials may only be used to train AI if the copyright holder has given permission or if a statutory exception applies. Content created by pupils and teachers is likely to be protected by copyright. Schools and Colleges should not allow Students’ original work to be used to train Gen AI models unless they have permission or an exception applies. Permission would be from the student and/or the student’s legal guardian (in the event that the student is unable to consent being a minor).

Schools should also be aware  of secondary infringement which could happen if the AI produces content which is used and published online (for example on a school website). An example would be publishing a school policy that has been created by Gen AI and the source of the input was from another school policy without that school’s permission. The government have suggested that Higher-Education Institutions may consider reviewing the intellectual asset management guide when producing student policies on the IP they create and how they interact and use intellectual property of others in light of Gen AI.

Formal Assessments in light of Gen AI

It is clear from the policy paper that assessment processes need to catch up with Generative AI. In addition, teachers are being relied upon to spot when AI may be being used. Think about the situation where the teacher may not know the subject in detail – they may not spot that AI has been used. There are AI plagiarism detection tools, but this will inevitably be an extra cost to an institution and there has also been some suggestion that they provide false positives.”

“Education institutions should take reasonable steps to prevent malpractice involving the use of AI. Schools should refer to the guidance on AI use in assessments which provides information on AI misuse, requirements for teachers and exam centres to detect malpractice and information on AI use and marking. Student work submitted for assessment must be in their own words and not copied or paraphrased from another source such as an AI tool and must reflect their own independent work.”

Investing in AI

The government is investing in the use of Gen AI. The government have funded Oak National Academy in developing AI tools for teachers which will effectively reduce their administrative load. As such, Oak recently launched Aila, an AI-powered lesson assistant. DfE have awarded innovation funding through the AI tools for education competition to support innovators to develop tools based on this content.

The government have identified that schools are requesting further training and guidance in the use of AI. In response to this, the government have developed a training package with online resources. Further, the government are also funding Ofsted to conduct a study on the use of AI and the role leaders are playing in early-adopter schools and further education colleges. The aim of this is to bring further clarity on how providers are governing the use of AI and monitoring the impact of AI on education and training as well as understanding the potential risks.