“ For students with a mobile phone, there are more and more AI tools appearing in apps all the time, so as a parent it’s about making sure you are familiar with what apps your child is using.”
MATTHEW WEMYSS, EDTECH ADVOCATE & ASSISTANT SCHOOL DIRECTOR, CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL OF BUCHAREST
THE AI LITERACY GAP With AI use across international schools increasing, Weymyss stressed a need for training. He warned that educators need to keep up with AI in order to lead on AI literacy. “According to ‘Barnardo’s Exploring AI with Children and Young People’ report, 63% of children and young people are learning about AI from social media,” he said. “Knowing what we know about social media and its impact, that knowledge of AI should be coming from a more reliable source.” The report further highlights that parents have a very
limited understanding of AI. “As schools, we need to step in and provide the correct information to both students and parents to help improve their understanding of what AI can and cannot do, as well as the risks of outsourcing your thinking to AI.” Citing the same paper, Wemyss added that 54% of
children and young people want to learn more about AI at school and are becoming aware of its importance. Meanwhile, 87% of parents felt their children learning about AI now was either important or very important.
Yet research shows a distinct lack of confidence and AI knowledge, both in schools and at home. The report revealed 82% of children and young people say their parents or teachers know “some”, “not too much”, or “nothing” about AI. An alarming 95% of teachers were shown to have not received any training in AI at all. At Cambridge School of Bucharest, Wemyss
discussed how they are tackling the issue of AI literacy head-on by providing online webinars and workshops on AI and sharing their school’s approach to AI with students and parents. “Speaking to my year 13 students, who are getting
ready to enter university, they are rightly concerned about the impact AI will have on their job prospects. We need more AI discussion at schools and to get ahead of the game. The last thing we want is for TikTok and social media to fill that void.” Wemyss reiterated the AI adoption gap between
students and adults and discussed concerns around AI training and skills for teachers supported by statistics from the National Literacy Trust. “If we look at the UK, for example, 75% of teachers would like more training, support and resources to use generative AI.” But the onus does not lie with teachers alone. He highlighted the need for parents to be familiar with AI, too. “For students with a mobile phone, there are more
and more AI tools appearing in apps all the time, so as a parent it’s about making sure you are familiar with what apps your child is using,” he said. “At Cambridge School of Bucharest, we are helping to educate parents on apps and their use, how to identify if AI is built-in and if they might need to put any restrictions in place.” AI policy was another key topic, with many schools
still to formulate one. Wemyss offered some sound advice on where to start. “When creating an AI school policy, it’s important
to remember that AI is changing all the time, so policies don’t have to be all-encompassing. Outlining how students and teachers can use AI and covering protections around data is a great place to start, as well as setting
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