Building community: bringing the outside in
Beyond formal training and curriculum, I recognise that AI adoption needs ongoing conversation and community. I write a weekly blog called “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of AI” for all colleagues, sharing AI stories from around the world.
I also became the organisation’s unofficial AI reading service, distilling insights from Dan Fitzpatrick’s “Infinite Education” into weekly notes for headteachers—essentially doing their reading for them, recognising that school leaders are drowning in priorities.
But perhaps most importantly, I record podcasts and webinars with teachers across the organisation. I want to shine an AI light on colleagues who are already experimenting and innovating. There’s incredible expertise happening in silos across our schools—a primary teacher in Rome using AI to help write the end-of-year performance, a Geography teacher in Bilbao using AI as a teaching assistant whilst working with students who need extra support, a science teacher in Canada who designed an ‘AI Checklist’ for students to use when deciding whether to use AI in their work.
All this work is happening without me and where people are ready it’s my job to help them go further. We’re launching an annual AI Innovation Competition, providing teachers with full licences to advanced AI software like Microsoft Copilot Pro, to give them the freedom to choose their own projects and, we hope, creating space for innovation.