2025 Summer Term

The know zone

  • Reception Baseline Assessment: Changes for 2025
    Tiffnie Harris shares the latest information for primary schools delivering the Reception Baseline Assessment from autumn 2025. More
  • Where are we now?
    Dr Anne Murdoch OBE shares the latest updates on T levels and other Level 3 technical qualifications. More
  • Embracing AI
    Emma Harrison reflects on the AI journey in business functions in schools, colleges and trusts. More
  • Securing your future
    Melanie Moffatt says not all pensions are created equally, and members need to act while they are young to protect their retirement future. More
  • Under review...
    For this issue, we asked ASCL members to share their views on the interim report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review. Here's what they said... More
  • The Great Escape
    Assistant Headteacher Melissa Jackson says she's proud to be on ASCL Council. Here, she shares her passion for Council, school leadership and escape rooms! More
  • Anti-social media?
    Carl Smith issues a rallying cry for us to break free and seize back control of social media. More

Emma Harrison reflects on the AI journey in business functions in schools, colleges and trusts.

Embracing AI 

Towards the end of 2024, I was invited to join the AI in Education CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and COO (Chief Operating Officer) panel group with my colleague Julia Harnden, ASCL Deputy Director of Policy and Funding Specialist. It was fantastic to see this group formed as we hear a lot about AI in teaching and learning, but less so about the workflows/processes in the business functions in our schools, colleges, and trusts. This group allows us to change this, raise the profile of artificial intelligence (AI) in business services, and share good practice across the sector. The panel's role is to explore AI's potential in education, focusing on business functions with aims to be action-orientated, empowering members to engage and share insights and collaborate with others. It is fair to say many members expressed being at the early stages of their AI journey. 

Your feedback 

At a recent ASCL Business Leader Online Forum we were keen to gauge member engagement and experimentation with AI. We found that 69% of attendees had dabbled with AI. In further polls in the forum, we found 78% didn’t have a policy on AI for staff, 71% didn’t have a policy on AI for students, and 72% had no training on AI in their setting. Similarly, a recent Teacher Tapp survey (tinyurl.com/2m9kb7kw) found that 86% of respondents said their school does not have a clear school-wide staff strategy on using AI. 

At the forum, members reported using AI tools mostly for asking a question (73%) and summarising a document (56%). 

Chris Loveday, Chair of the AI in Education CFO/COO panel group, said that when considering using AI, we should first be clear on what the problem is that we are trying to solve. And that we should consider where in our work AI belongs and where it does not. In conversations with members, some are already using AI to reduce workload, for example, by using AI to produce a recruitment schedule and to write minutes for governor meetings. In both examples, work is produced in a matter of minutes for review, with many hours saved across both tasks that can be invested elsewhere. 

It is clear that many members are at the beginning of their AI journey, and there is still some work to do to ensure that it is used safely, ethically, and productively. And it is important that schools, colleges and trusts are supported to embed AI into their settings. 

Risks and considerations 

As AI becomes more embedded in education settings, ethical concerns must be addressed with care and transparency. While AI offers efficiency and intelligence, it also raises important questions concerning data use, fairness, accountability, and privacy. It’s a complex landscape to navigate and you will need to ensure the use of AI is on your risk register, and you will need to establish how you are going to mitigate the risks associated with it. 

And, while AI offers numerous benefits in streamlining operations and improving decisionmaking, it's important to recognise the environmental costs associated with AI technologies. Professor Gina Neff of Queen Mary University London recently said that ChatGPT is “burning through energy”, and the data centres used to power it consume more electricity in a year than 117 countries (tinyurl.com/y3yzk2). 

And, importantly, AI adoption must not widen the digital divide – we must ensure all students and staff have equitable access to digital tools. 

ASCL’s view 

ASCL supports the thoughtful and responsible integration of AI in schools, trusts, and colleges. We believe AI has the potential to support and enhance teaching and learning, reduce workload, and streamline operations while emphasising that human interaction remains at the heart of education. 

Where next? 

ASCL is partnering on seven research strands with consultancy Educate Ventures Research, which will be going live in September. One strand will be business, operations systems, and AI, exploring the strategic integration of AI-enhanced solutions across school, college, and trust environments. We will share more details with you later this term on how you can get involved. 

It is also essential that the DfE supports the sector on how to get the best out of AI with investment in infrastructure and training, and we will continue to advocate for you as this policy area develops. 

Ultimately, we all need to embrace AI and experiment to unlock the benefits it brings.

Emma Harrison
ASCL Business Leadership Specialist
@emmajharrisonx.bsky.social

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