Teach Secondary -Issue 15.1

Akey challenge for school leaders about to embark on an AI school journey is how to ensure they take school staff (as well as pupils and parents/ guardians) with them. Agood place to start would be to devise a shared vision– explain the ‘why’, and link this to your school development plan and departmental priorities. Ensure that all policies reference the usage and deployment of AI as necessary, and that any risks relating to bias, data security and equitable access toAI tools are fully addressed. Next, share a training plan detailing howall staff will be affected by yourAI vision and tailor this to specific teams – e.g. admin staff, school businessmanagers, SLT and teachers.With staff trained, you can then consider your pupils’ needs.Where andwhen will they be usingAI, and how will this vary across subjects? Keep inmind that AI should be used to augment great teaching, not replace it, so consider how teachers will likely use it. Tasking students with summarising passages of writing, for instance, makes little sensewhen anAImodel can do that instantly. Instead, pupils could be engaged in classroomdebate, enabling themto develop important communication and critical thinking skills. Put in place key impact milestones tomeasure your progress at bothwhole school and departmental levels, and invite regular feedback fromall involved parties. You’ll soon find out if your school’s adoption of AI is having the desired outcomes in terms of workloads and personalised learning. The current evidence base of AI deployment within schools isn’t huge, withmanymore examples of use and impact needed to informfuture developments – so be as transparent as possiblewhen reporting any challenges you encountered and howyou dealt with them. Beverly ClarkeMBE is an education consultant, speaker and author; formore information, visit beverlyclarkeconsulting.co.uk TRENDING Our pick of the recent resources and launches teachers might find useful... SUPERVISINGTHE SUPERVISORS The Engagement Platform (TEP) began as a tool for measuring student engagement, and informing actions around school attendance, outcomes and other areas. It’s now in the process of expanding into leadership and governance, with a newset of tools designed to gauge howwell a school’s SLT, governors and trustees are aligned in their priorities and perceptions. tep.uk/leadership-governance THE LIGHTFANTASTIC AnyKS3 groups planning to take in the revival ofAndrew LloydWebber’s Starlight Express at Troubadour WembleyParkTheatre can avail themselves of a free education pack containing a range of learning activities for use both before and after seeing the show. starlightexpresslondon.com/ education AI journey essentials On the radar... Got a great learning idea? Email editor@teachsecondary.com or tweet us at @teachsecondary 1 MINUTE STUDENT CPD ZEPH BENNETT IS A PE TEACHER AND SCHOOLACHIEVEMENT LEADERWITH 25 YEARS’ TEACHING EXPERIENCE; YOU CAN FINDMORE OF HIS EDUCATIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY FOLLOWING@ZEPHBENNETT.BSKY.SOCIAL 5WAYS TO REDUCE COGNITIVE LOAD ZEPH BENNETT SUGGESTS SOME WAYS OF PREVENTING STUDENTS FROM BEING OVERWHELMED WHEN PRESENTED WITH NEW INFORMATION 1 CUT IRRELEVANT MATERIAL Present relevant information via short, sharp sentences; if using diagrams, explain the point succinctlywithout excessive labelling or noise. 2 DON’T READ OUT TEXTONTHE BOARD Reading out material put before students can muddle their input channel. They can be listening to you, or reading the board, but not both. 3 BREAK UPTEXT WITH IMAGES You should, however, combine images with text on the board, so that the former lend thematerial immediate impact,while that latter provide clear explanations. 4 SEGMENT COMPLEX INFORMATION Presenting content in small chunks, so that it’s delivered in a bite-sized, yet progressive way,will aid students’ encoding of newmaterial. 5 HIGHLIGHT KEY INFORMATION When presenting text, draw students’ attention to themost important points through devices such as bold text and indented paragraphs. 75 teachwire.net/secondary L E A R N I N G L A B