Impact Journal Archives : My College

From the editor

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Dr Cat Scutt MBE, Deputy Chief Executive, Chartered College of Teaching, UK In Spring 2019, the Chartered College of Teaching published a special issue of Impact focused on EdTech, funded by the Department for Education (DfE). In the six years since then, EdTech use in schools has changed almost beyond recognition: firstly, due to the […]

Using GenAI: What do teachers really need to know?

HANNAH OWEN, CLASS TEACHER, RIVERSIDE PRIMARY SCHOOL; PHD RESEARCHER, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, UK My first experience of using artificial intelligence (AI) almost crept up on me. I was aware of some of the AI tools available, particularly ChatGPT, but had yet to try them out. Yet one morning, as I was preparing a spelling activity for […]

Teachers’ use of ChatGPT in lesson preparation can save time

Three groups of icons representing people have shapes travelling between them and a page in the middle of the image. The page is a simple rectangle with straight lines representing data. The shapes traveling towards the page are irregular and in squiggly bands.

HELEN POET, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, NFER, UK KATHERINE ASTON, RESEARCH MANAGER, NFER, UK Introduction Since the release of various generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) models for public use, there has been great interest in its potential use in education. By August last year, 57 per cent of teachers reported using at least one form of AI tool to help […]

Utilising AI and emerging technologies to support learners with autism

Building blocks are overlayed with digital squares that highlight people living their day-to-day lives through windows. Some of the squares are accompanied by cursors.

CRAIG LOMAS, SENIOR LECTURER IN EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF GREATER MANCHESTER, UK PROFESSOR GEOFF BAKER, CEO, TRUE LEARNING PARTNERSHIP AND EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF GREATER MANCHESTER, UK Introduction There has been an exponential increase in the number of pupils diagnosed with autism spectrum condition (ASC) in schools in England since 2020, with 70 per cent of […]

AI tutoring: Bridging the educational disadvantage gap

Several small cartoon representations of people are linked by brown handdrawn lines representing a network.

MARK LESWELL, RESEARCH LEAD, SWALE ACADEMIES TRUST, UK This article examines how AI tutoring could address the educational attainment gap for socio-economically disadvantaged students. Recent studies suggest that AI tutoring can deliver significant learning gains, while overcoming the scaling limitations of traditional one-to-one tutoring. While implementation challenges exist, the technology shows promise as a cost-effective tool […]

Generative AI in the classroom: Challenging the digital native assumptions of student proficiency with artificial intelligence tools

A hand-drawn sketch in coloured pens depicts a small uniform row of houses at the bottom of the picture. From each of the houses, 0s and 1s representing digital data are floating up in plumes which look like smoke from the chimneys of the houses; but these are not uniform: they represent the different types of data from each house.

SAM LOVATT, SENIOR LECTURER IN PRIMARY EDUCATION, ST MARY’S UNIVERSITY, UK Children and young people are surrounded by technology, with many of them (nine out of 10) owning a smartphone by the time they attend secondary school (Woodhouse and Lalic, 2024). A recent report from Ofcom (2024) found that 96 per cent of children between the […]

Inclusive education in the age of AI: Adaptive teaching strategies using ChatGPT

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ANNA CHATWIN, DEPUTY HEAD OF TEACHING, LEARNING & INNOVATION AND TEACHER OF HISTORY & POLITICS, BERKHAMSTED SCHOOL, UK The rapid advancement of generative AI presents educators with a pressing question: how can artificial intelligence (AI) be harnessed to foster inclusive and adaptive teaching practices? Research by Mollick and Mollick (2023) provides a tangible framework for upskilling […]

Student engagement in effective AI use: Prompt engineering and individualised learning

An Escher-like structure depicting the concept of AI model collapse. The image features a swirling, labyrinthine design, representing a recursive loop where algorithms feed on their own generated synthetic data. Elements of digital clutter and noise are interwoven throughout, highlighting the chaotic nature of the internet increasingly populated by AI-generated content. The visual metaphor of a Uroboros, a snake eating its own tail, symbolizes the self-referential cycle of AI training on its own outputs.

MICHAEL SPIERS, SENIOR HOUSEMASTER, RIPON GRAMMAR SCHOOL, UK Rationale and preliminary research I first became aware of the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in aiding the incorporation of creativity in teaching in late 2022, after the release of the large language model (LLM) ChatGPT. I was familiar with generative AI from conversations with colleagues involved in […]

Early research themes for teaching about AI

Seventeen multicoloured post-it notes are roughly positioned in a strip shape on a white board. Each one of them has a hand drawn sketch in pen on them, answering the prompt on one of the post-it notes "AI is...." The sketches are all very different, some are patterns representing data, some are cartoons, some show drawings of things like data centres, or stick figure drawings of the people involved.

JANE WAITE, RASPBERRY PI FOUNDATION, CAMBRIDGE AND RASPBERRY PI COMPUTING EDUCATION RESEARCH CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, UK Introduction Resources related to AI and education are emerging, from international and country-specific policy guidance (e.g. Miao and Holmes, 2023; DfE, 2025), to suggested competency frameworks (e.g. Miao and Shiohira, 2024). When considering how AI technology may manifest in […]

Barton Peveril Sixth Form College’s journey with artificial intelligence and development of AI agents

A grey building is seen as in a 3D plan against a bright red background. 0s and 1s represent data streaming out of the windows and gaps in the roof.

CHRIS LOVEDAY, VICE PRINCIPAL, BARTON PEVERIL SIXTH FORM COLLEGE, UK Introduction In January 2024, Barton Peveril Sixth Form College (BPSFC) began exploring the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). Initially, the focus was on leveraging AI to support business functions and improve operational efficiency, before being expanded to include student engagement and marking. This case study examines […]

How AI can be a panacea for the growing SEND, workload and retention crisis

An person is illustrated in a warm, cartoon-like style in green. They are looking up thoughtfully from the bottom left at a large hazard symbol in the middle of the image. The Hazard symbol is a bright orange square tilted 45 degrees, with a black and white illustration of an exclamation mark in the middle where the exclamation mark shape is made up of tiny 1s and 0s like binary code. To the right-hand side of the image a small character made of lines and circles (like nodes and edges on a graph) is standing with its ‘arms’ and ‘legs’ stretched out, and two antenna sticking up. It faces off to the right-hand side of the image.

REBECCA STOTT, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, TWINKL; NPQH; MA-ED, SEND & DIGITAL LEARNING, UK GEORGINA DURRANT, SEND AUTHOR, BLOOMSBURY; NATIONAL THOUGHT LEADER FOR INCLUSION, TWINKL, UK JONATHAN PARK, AI LEAD, TWINKL, UK Lost amid the noise of the election, the Department for Education updated its risk report in July to warn that the SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) […]

AI for schools: Unlocking potential in curriculum processes

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Charlie Cutler, Director of Curriculum, United Learning, UK Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has the potential to fundamentally change education and substantially support teachers in teaching, and its use in education is growing. The proportion of teachers reporting using GenAI ‘to help with school work’ has grown from 35 per cent in August 2023 to 42 […]

Harnessing artificial intelligence to transform CPD and reduce educator workload in sixth-form colleges

8 photos of the same tree taken at different times of the year in 2 rows of 4, the last photo is highly pixelated. A pattern of random white blocks run across the image from the left and become aligned on the right.

DAVID J WALL, HEAD OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS/TLA DEVELOPER, ST JOHN RIGBY COLLEGE, UK In the fast-paced and demanding environment of an Ofsted-outstanding sixth-form college, educators face increasing pressure to balance high-quality teaching with administrative duties. The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) presents a promising solution to alleviate these burdens, enabling educators to focus on […]

AI in assessment: Managing risks and seizing opportunities

Plastic figures resembling humans who sit at tables in front of laptops. the lack of background makes their environment look bleak.

DALE BASSETT, DIRECTOR OF ASSESSMENT, UNITED LEARNING, UK Assessment is integral to education, helping us to understand how students are progressing. Whether formal annual tests, exit-ticket quizzes or informal learning checks in the classroom, ‘traditional’ assessment isn’t going away – but it is hugely impacted by AI, both positively and negatively. United Learning’s ongoing development of […]

AI in teacher professional development: The unnecessary and absolutely necessary cognitive load of developing as a teacher

A banana on a table and an image of a banana on a laptop on the same table. Each of the two bananas has a white frame around it with the word ‚Banana‘ sticked on top of it.

ROBERT CAUDWELL AND PAUL MALLABAND, CO-FOUNDERS, PENROSE EDUCATION, UK Introduction As is true in most professions, teachers are increasingly outsourcing elements of their work to AI (artificial intelligence) tooling. As AI capabilities continue to improve, it will become possible to increasingly rely on machines to do parts of our jobs for us. This has the potential […]

Whose values and beliefs are shaping the conversation?

This image features 3 images of a street. Overlying the image are different shapes which are arranged to look like QR code symbols. These are in white/blue colours and intersect one another. The first image is clear, but the second is slightly more pixelated, and the final image is very pixelated.

DR FIONA AUBREY-SMITH, FOUNDING DIRECTOR, ONE LIFE LEARNING, UK Educational organisations are increasingly deciding who will take responsibility for leadership around AI (artificial intelligence) in their context – with new roles and remits being evolved to lead this changing landscape. Yet each of those sharing their expertise or leadership is doing so through a particular […]

The human in the machine: Exploring the potential, ethics and morality of harnessing AI for workload and assessment

$The image depicts a series of stone-like hands, fractured and cracked, reaching out in various directions from a chaotic mass of tangled wires. Some hands display broken fingers, while archival tags on others suggest anonymity and erasure. The juxtaposition of human forms and technological wires evokes themes of labor, exploitation, and the often unseen physical work behind the tech industry.$

Introduction With the advancement of large language learning models (LLMs – AI tools such as ChatGPT), there are senses of optimism, potential and scepticism within the education world in equal amounts: optimism regarding its potential impact on reducing workload, a key factor in the recruitment and retention crisis (NFER, 2024); potential in its ability to […]

Do pupils dream of electric teachers? Secondary school pupil perspectives on AI and the implications for teacher professionalism

$A photographic rendering of a smiling face emoji seen through a refractive glass grid, overlaid with a diagram of a neural network.$

JAMES LEIGH, HOUSEMASTER, CANFORD SCHOOL, UK Introduction The educational landscape is rapidly evolving, with so-called artificial intelligence (AI) emerging as a potential game-changer. Easy-to-access large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot, are particularly intriguing, holding the promise of personalised learning paths, efficient research assistance and potentially even automated assessment. However, the potential impact […]

The ‘unreliable magic genie’: Helping students to develop criticality in the world of AI in post-16 education

TIM HALLAS, HILLS ROAD SIXTH FORM COLLEGE, UK; ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY, UK Introduction AI has become a significant topic of conversation in post-16 colleges, after ChatGPT reached public consciousness at the end of 2022. This was met with a variety of reactions from individuals and organisations, which included intrigue, fear and disinterest, depending on the perspective […]

AI spy: Tracking the tools that teachers use

This image shows the corner of a room, with wooden floor with two walls - one is smaller than the other. On the left smaller wall, glowing app icons, with logos including Netflix, Spotify, OpenAI, and Alexa are arranged in a grid. Multiple sets of dark footprints converge toward these icons on the floor. The room’s right side features wooden shelves with various items: stacks of books, a vintage red rotary phone, vinyl records, and framed artwork. These objects are slightly shadowed and appear darker, but occupy the larger wall. On the floor’s bottom left corner, a few footprints veer off in the opposite direction to the other footsteps which were facing the glowing apps.

KAREN WESPIESER, TEACHER TAPP, UK Since 2020, Teacher Tapp has been checking how teachers are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) tools. In November 2024, we asked teachers: What AI-powered tools or technologies (if any) have you used or experimented with in your teaching practice? The data featured in this Teacher Tapp research has been gathered from our […]