Education secretary to speak on the power of AI
by Educate Magazine March 29, 2023 · Education News
Artificial intelligence has the power to transform teachers’ day-to-day lives, the Education Secretary will say in a speech today (29 March).
AI technology offers many opportunities and some schools are already leveraging its potential, with others eager to learn and understand its full capability to help teach the lessons of tomorrow.
Speaking at the bett show in London, Gillian Keegan will explain to the education and technology sector the great potential of AI and call on them to work together, with the government, to maximise that potential and manage the risks.
The Education Secretary’s speech coincides with the publication of statement from the Department for Education, setting out opportunities and risks that come with AI for education.
Gillian Keegan is expected to say: “AI will have the power to transform a teacher’s day-to-day work. We’ve seen people using it to write lesson plans, and some interesting experiments around marking too.
“Can it do those things now, to the standard we need? No. Should the time it saves ever come at the cost of the quality produced by a skilled teacher? Absolutely not.
“But could we get to a point where the tasks that really drain teachers’ time are significantly reduced? I think we will.
“Getting to that point is a journey we in this room are going to have to go on together – and just as we’ve responded to other innovations like the calculator, we’ll use it to deliver better outcomes for students.”
The Department For Education is also announcing further support, which it says is to ensure ‘schools have a safe, secure and reliable foundation in place before they can consider using more powerful technology’.
The department added that digital and technology standards, covering cloud technology, servers and storage, and filtering and monitoring, will help schools to save money and create secure learning environments.
