Preparing for the future with technology at the forefront

By Ruhina Cockar, with contributions from Ben Law Smith, Andrew Compton, David Madden and Elizabeth Anthony

There is a need for the UK education system to recognise the rapidly changing world and increasing importance of preparing students for the future in terms of careers and the challenges in part related to technology. Many current people in the workforce already have a fear of losing their jobs to Artificial Intelligence (AI)1 and are worried about their skill level in understanding the changing face of technology and its seemingly infinite and complex ways of working.

The IB has a broader strategy to embrace digital learning for both students and educators; an active choice to see the opportunities and benefits and keep pace with the potential future2. They emphasise a curriculum that works on both specialised knowledge and the "soft skills" like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving that are increasingly valued in the modern workforce.

At WA, a year ago, we discussed what this would look like for our students and educators in our context and came up with the following ideas:

• The ambition we have is to create students who are highly effective at using different digital tools and platforms to support their learning, critically evaluating information sources, communicating their work, solving problems, designing inquiries and, in doing so, show increasing autonomy in their learning process. Students can communicate and collaborate effectively online and understand digital ethics, reflecting regularly on their use of technology.

• We would like to support educators to be highly developed in the use of technology whereby they integrate digital tools into their instructional practices. Evidence of not just using technology but showing how it can enhance learning to others as a pioneer. 

This was the focus of one the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) for this academic year and I’m delighted to signpost some of their learning more formally in this blog post.

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Ben Law Smith’s inquiry was “Can GenAI be used as a tutor to improve attainment in Year 10 GCSE Citizenship Studies?”

Recent studies suggest AI tutoring can have the same impact as in person tutoring on 11-18 year olds (Lie et al, 2025) and that it can improve test results by an average of 20% after 9 months use (Swarglary, 2024).

Ben did a 5 month quasi-experiment with Year 10 Citizenship students to see if he could recreate these findings at WA.

One class (out of three) was introduced to a bespoke "'CitizenshipGPT' which was pre-trained to act like a tutor and use the AQA exam specification materials instead of general information. Students could only use it outside of class.

He carried out Pre and Post experiment surveys to understand usage and monitored attainment over four assessments including an end of year GCSE mock exam.

Findings:

Students are interested in using GenAI to learn - before the study, 69% of people who had used GenAI at least once before wanted to use it at school to learn.

Access to a GenAI tutor makes students more likely to be interested - after the study, 86% of students who used the GenAI tutor would like them to be used in other classes.

Frequent use maintained On Track grades - students who used the GenAI tutor 'Many times' in the access period (3 students) maintained their On Track grades from Semester 1 to Semester 2. By comparison, the ON Track grades for students who used it 'A few times', 'once or twice' or 'never' on average reduced by -0.4.

Challenges:

Adoption - Only 58% of sample tried CitizenshipGPT and of those that did, 79% used it ‘Once or twice’ or ‘A few times’, not enough to see impact. As a result the sample size was very small and findings may be unreliable.

Free version vs. paid version - the free version of ChatGPT that most students use is a much less powerful model so the explanations and responsiveness to their level may not be as good

Whilst not conclusive, this short experiment has shown that GenAI is something students are interested in using and appears to support learning as a revision tool. 

However, correct set up and use is critical - research shows that using GenAI as a ‘socratic tutor’ can have a positive impact on attainment whilst using it as an ‘answer machine’ can harm attainment. This is most memorable way I’ve seen this idea put: ‘If you went to a gym and got a robot to lift weights would you get stronger? Obviously not. However, if you got a robot to motivate you to go to the gym, then encourage and guide you to do exercise in the correct way week after week, would you get stronger, faster? Yes! Don’t use GenAI to do your heavy lifting for you!’

"Many schools across the world (especially in Australia under the auspices of state government) are finding their own trials of GenAI tutors have benefited their secondary students - I hope to continue looking into whether it could be a benefit to ours too!"

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Andrew Compton’s Inquiry was “How can AI-Generated Imagery support the presentation of assignment work in BTEC National Sport Studies?”

Andy worked with Year 12 and 13 BTEC Sport students to examine the creation of AI generated imagery and its use in providing suitable accompanying images to enhance coursework.

Over time, they discussed and experimented with different typed statements and adapting ways in which they make requests of the AI model, with the aim of improving the quality and usefulness of the images generated.

Every single image below has been generated using AI technology, using either Gemini 2.5 flash, or ChatGPT 4o mini (free version). They are a sample of some of these images along with a short commentary on the successfulness of their creation and application of their use as part of the BTEC Sport course.

Injuries in Rugby

Prompt: ‘Create me an image to show a rugby player suffering injury due to a lack of flexibility’

Students had to discuss intrinsic risk factors for injury in Rugby Union. One of the available options was inadequate flexibility and how it can lead to injury.

The student wanted to produce an image to supplement their text response explaining how this can lead to injury and what we can do to prevent such injury.

The AI image create has focused on showing a muscular rugby player grimacing, while unable to execute a stretch effectively.

The image contributed to a very comical discussion in the lesson on its suitability to be used for the assignment, but we agreed that it was able to get across the point that the student wanted to make, and depict the injury risk in question.

Skeletal System

As part of their research and revision for their Anatomy and Physiology unit, BTEC Sport students tried to create diagrams of different body systems.

One student was able to use AI to create a fairly useful diagram of the different sections of the spine, but it lacked the detail to differentiate between different individual vertebrae.

When they tried to specify, the AI was unable to label the sections effectively and could not number each of the individual vertebra effectively. Spelling errors and some incidences of repetition were an issue in both images.

Prompt 1: ‘can you create me a labelled image to show a diagram of the different sections of the vertebral column and individual vertebrae’	Prompt 2: ‘can you create me a labelled image to show a diagram of the different sections of the vertebral column with individual numbered vertebrae’

Rondo Passing Drill

A student wanted to visually represent the ‘rondo’ passing drill that they were planning to include as part of their coaching session. Below are three of the incarnations that AI created following refining of the request. None of the images could quite achieve what the student wanted to see.

• The first image has two blue shorts in the outer circle and the ball at the feet of the defender.

• The second image fixes the shirts but there are now three balls in play and a confusing circular arrow

• The third image pits 16 attackers up against a lone defender and they all have a ball each!

A number of other attempts were made, but unfortunately the AI could not produce an accurate reproduction of the rondo drill being set-up or executed correctly.

‘create me an image or diagram (with no text) to demonstrate how a rondo drill is executed in football making sure a defender is included’	‘create me an image or diagram (with no text) to demonstrate how a rondo passing drill is executed in football, making sure a defender is included in a blue shirt. The attacking team must have a ball and be in red shirts’	‘create me a diagram (with no text) to demonstrate how a rondo drill is setup in football, making sure a defender is included in a blue shirt. The attacking team must be in red shirts.’

Basketball Hierarchy 

Prompt - ‘can you create me an image to show the hierarchy pyramid of basketball organisations from FIBA to grassroots’

Students were asked to provide a visual representation of the hierarchy of their chosen sport to demonstrate how rules and regulations are passed down from rule makers to grassroots competitors.

This effort is initially visually appealing and gives a relatively overall accurate reflection of the different tier levels. However, on closer inspection we can see a few spelling errors and some incorrect or obscure titles on the pyramid tiers.

This did not turn out to be an issue, as the image was only used to accompany a detailed description of how the hierarchy works, but was quite impressive for a first time effort, and with some refining, could maybe develop into an excellent image.

Overall, the results of this trial were varied, and many images were more ‘style over substance’ than truly effective at enhancing the presentation of the work. Through trialling and refining the requests, they were able to put success down to being dependent on a number of key factors:

• The range and availability of images on the web that the AI generator needed as input

• The power of the AI generator used

• The detail and breadth of information given to the AI generator through each request

• The complexity of the request made of the AI generator

• The ability of the image requester to build upon the request/question allowing the AI generator to refine the image

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Using the guidance produced by Ben Law Smith, David Madden generated Chat bots to aid his Year 13 AISL and Year 11 Higher GCSE students with their Maths revision ahead of their exams. He subsequently refined the prompts that he gave the bots (by asking ChatGPT to refine them for him!). The support that the bots provided seems to be more personalised as a result of the refinement. It started by asking them what they knew about the topic; it then modelled the maths and then gave the student an question to work through - this bit is set up in such a way that the student can type in their working and then at the end they are told to say this is the final answer so they submit that and that gets marked.

In parallel to this, Tom Pattinson, from the We Are in beta community reached out to ask David a question about the use of AI in the classroom: “I shared my links with him and I am now part of a new AI community hosted by the community! Through this community I have gained access to the recently produced DfE guidance on the use of Generative AI in the classroom:  Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education

This is certainly work in progress but it will be an exciting journey! More to follow!”

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Elizabeth Anthony’s Year 11 science class was a mixed ability nurture group with varying levels of needs. She wanted to explore the use of AI to help them access learning better and build their confidence.  After teaching them about magnetism, Elozabeth wanted to see if she could use AI to create a comic strip based on the scientific information they need to know, but tailored to their level and needs. After several trials, she was able to produce one which she then used to deliver an activity:

Activities that can be done using this strip:

1. Comprehension task - read and answer Qs.

2. Find misinformation and correction on the strip. 

3. Use this to write down key facts they have learnt from the strip.

What was the impact?

• Students can work at their own pace.

• Comprehension - helps improve literacy skills.

• Dual coding - if you choose the right image.

• Students are more likely to be engaged and not see that they are learning.

Another exploration of AI for Elizabeth came after her class found it difficult to access exam questions - low scores were diminishing their confidence. “I used AI to make exam questions more accessible to them. Once they saw that they could do these questions, it made them try better, and they did better in their mock exam, which used the same exam papers as everyone else.”

Adapted version:

AI can be used effectively to help students engage better by providing activities that are tailored to them. This can be used to provide independent work for students on either end of a mixed-ability class, while the middle gets on with their work. Elizabeth was better able to adapt to the needs of her class with the support of AI!

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We cannot ignore the impact AI is having on our brains3 however it is clear that there is a place for using AI to support learning when used in a way that still asks the students and educators to think deeply and think critically. The responsible use of technology is an ongoing debate and whilst we find the balance it’s exciting to know we can elevate our lesson planning and support for students to progress with tools that also save us some time - time that can then be redistributed back into building meaningful relationships and pastoral care for our students. 

What are your thoughts and experiences with using AI?

How are you balancing the use of AI with still being able to think about the task?

Sources

1 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/worklife/article/20230418-ai-anxiety-artificial-intelligence-replace-jobs

2 - https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/ib-director-general-education-must-change-post-covid  

3 - https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/

Autism in the Classroom

By Corinna Matlis

The rates of autism diagnoses are going up across the UK.  While this has sparked a fair amount of controversy about whether the cause lies in changing diagnosis criteria or something else, the reality is that we have more and more students in our classrooms who are autistic and/or identify as autistic or neurodivergent. Therefore, it is important that we think carefully about how we are supporting those students.  In this blogpost, I’m going to suggest that many of the ways we are already supporting autistic students are in line with best practice, and so we should double-down on them.  At the same time, I will suggest that we think carefully about how we understand and talk about autistic pupils so that we can move away from deficit and medicalised language.  Throughout this blogpost, I will refer to autistic people and neurodivergent people.  These are not synonyms – neurodivergence is a bigger basket that includes people who have ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, OCD, and other conditions.  It is common for neurodivergent people to have co-occurring conditions and many practices that support autistic students will also support other neurodivergent students.  

In the interest of full transparency, I have delved into this topic this year in part because of the high number of students with autism diagnoses on my registers. The other reason for my delving into this topic, however, is that a close relative received an autism diagnosis last summer, and I also, at the age of thirty-seven, received a working diagnosis for both autism and dyspraxia. (I’m still on the waiting list to be assessed for a formal diagnosis).  This topic is therefore personal to me, but I believe that this motivates me to think more deeply about what kind of adaptations are truly helpful. Also, as a neurodivergent teacher, I have limited space in my cognitive load to make massive adaptations and will therefore advocate for rethinking practices that we are already doing that help students and don’t overload teachers. 

Thinking about Autism Differently

Before thinking about ways to support autistic students in the classroom, it is worth rethinking how we view autism.  The rise in diagnosis has been accompanied by a wider understanding of what autism is and how autistic people may present.  The ‘Double Empathy Problem’ is a particularly powerful reframing of autism. While traditionally autistic people have been viewed as having poor social skills and even lacking in empathy, in 2012, the scholar Damian Milton, who is autistic, postulated that the issue is not that autistic people lack empathy but rather that the understanding breaks down between autistic and neurotypical people to such an extent that each one can view the other as lacking in empathy. His argument, therefore, is that the path forward is for all of us to try to learn about and understand each other better.  

Many of us are used to thinking of autism as a spectrum.  While this is useful in that it makes clear that every autistic person’s experience is not the same, it actually does not capture the wide variety of autistic experience along different modalities that can be dialled up or down.  Some examples of these modalities might be sensory processing differences, social differences, different styles of communication, executive functioning differences etc..  Different people may have different levels of support needs (autistic people prefer to speak about ‘high levels of support needs’ rather than ‘severe autism.’)  Some autistic people may ‘mask’ more than others, even to themselves, and this may mean that support needs are not apparent or that the person’s intellectual or emotional capacity varies depending on how tired they are from masking.  (As a personal example, one of the modalities that shows up most strongly for me is sensory differences, but I tried to ignore those differences for most of my life and just muscle through.  This led me to feel pretty exhausted fairly regularly.)  

Although the official language in the DSM-5 and ICD-11 refers to ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder,’ most autistic people prefer to avoid using the word ‘disorder’ when talking about autism. Advocacy groups, such as the National Autistic Society, explain that autistic people prefer simply to be called ‘autistic’, and we should avoid saying that someone ‘has autism’ in order to de-medicalise the language we use on a day-to-day basis.   In his book, Uniquely Human, Barry Prizant was one of the first scholars to lay out the idea that autism should be seen as a difference rather than a deficit. Autistic or neurodivergent people have strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else.  The difference is that those strengths and weaknesses tend to fall in different patterns than those of neurotypical people.  Some people do have higher support needs than others, and it may be that some pupils need more explicit support than what I will advocate for here, but the strategies here will support everyone at least to some extent. 

Standard Adaptations with a Different Attitude

Below are four practices that are standard in how we teach at WA and especially in how we support SEN students. It would be helpful, however, to understand exactly how and why these practices are especially important for autistic and other neurodivergent people.  Thinking through this will allow us to focus on making these practices more effective. 

1. Lesson Outlines:  An important priority for teachers with neurodivergent pupils is to give them a sense of where they are in the lesson. (Huma advocated for this in her CPD presented to departments in Term 5!) This can be done verbally or, even better, visually in the slides, but it does not need to be complicated. An overview at the beginning can be helpful, but more important is to remind the pupils consistently of where they are in the lesson and where they are going next. I have included an example of this from a Y7 history lesson below. The slide is very simple, and it is repeated throughout the lesson with different lines bolded, depending on where we are in the lesson. The reason this is so helpful is that neurodivergent people tend to process information in different ways, often in greater detail than neurotypical people. That means it is easy to get lost in the weeds and it can be very helpful to have a framework.  

2. Chunking Information and Having Opportunities to Practice:  This suggestion is entirely in line with the new WA Pillars of Teaching and Learning, including the suggested lesson outlines. Everyone, neurotypical or neurodivergent, learns better when we are given a reasonable amount of new knowledge or information to digest and then a chance to practice it.  Neurodivergent pupils, however, learn best when given multiple different ways to process information. 

3. Modelling Language: This is also a staple of teaching and not something that needs to be specifically adapted for neurodivergent pupils. Autistic pupils in particular, however, may interact with models slightly differently than others. Almost all autistic people are Gestalt Language Processors. GLPs process language more easily in chunks than as individual words. This is particularly relevant in early life when we are acquiring language but can remain relevant into adulthood.  This means that an autistic student may directly incorporate a model phrase into their speech or writing and reproduce it later as well.  (This is called ‘delayed echolalia.’)  For decades, this repetition was considered evidence that autistic people do not understand language well, but researcher Marge Blanc demonstrated that this is actually part of a process of deciphering language that can not only be a very effective form of communication but also eventually leads to creation of unique language and phrases.  

4. Group Work and Executive Function: All of the practices I’ve discussed above are part of a teacher’s standard toolkit and are also part of the standard toolkit for teaching neurodivergent students. For my PLC this year, I’ve also tried another technique that is not as commonly associated with supporting neurodivergent students – group work. My results were mixed, as I will explain below, but it is worth remembering that structured group work fits with the suggestion that neurodivergent students often thrive when given many different ways to learn. The EEF suggests that working in groups can help support children who struggle with executive function – one of the biggest challenges for those of us who are neurodivergent because of the overwhelming amount of information we are processing. In my Year 7 history class, I structured a unit on Tudor England around group work. The structure and roles for the group work were the same for three consecutive weeks, and this gave students the chance to get used to the process (they were reading about different people who lived in Tudor England and finding similarities and differences between their lives). Ultimately, the classwork and final assessment did show an improvement for many of the students, autistic or not, from previous terms. However, a student voice survey revealed that the students did not feel that the group work had helped them understand the unit. I don’t think that group work is a silver bullet to support autistic and neurodivergent students, but it does belong in our toolkit as a different way to practice skills. 

Final Thoughts

With more and more pupils coming to WA with autism diagnoses, it is important that we have a clear understanding of the many complexities of autism and other forms of neurodivergence. I believe the easiest way for teachers to make adaptations to support most neurodivergent students is if we teach lessons as normal but keep in mind the ways certain techniques may specifically help autistic and other neurodivergent students so as to make sure those practices are prioritised.  It is also important to keep in mind that we should see autism as a difference and avoid using language like ‘deficit’, ‘disorder’, or ‘dysfunction’ whenever possible.  

Notes/Sources

1  This is one of many news stories talking about the rise in diagnoses and the questions around what is driving them:  Autism diagnoses are on the rise – but autism itself may not be, last accessed 23 June, 2025.  

2 Damian Milton,“On the Ontological Status of Autism: The ‘Double Empathy Problem.’” Disability & Society 27 (6): 883–87. 

3  For an example of this kind of explanation for autism, see Claire Jack, ‘From Autistic Linear Spectrum to Pie Chart Spectrum: Is it time to think of autism as a wheel, rather than a line?’ in Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/women-autism-spectrum-disorder/202208/autistic-linear-spectrum-pie-chart-spectrum, last accessed 24 June, 2025.  

4  The National Autistic Society has this really helpful PDF that explains the best ways to talk about autism and autistic people:  ‘How do Talk and Write about Autism Guide.’  https://nas.chorus.thirdlight.com/file/24/w2nAKE4w2MLxnl9w2LQ-w1l_8C/How%20to%20talk%20and%20write%20about%20autism%20guide%20-%20June%202025.pdf , last accessed 23 June 2025.  

5  Barry Prizant with T Field-Meyers, (2015) Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 

6  For an introduction to neurodivergence that is also wonderfully accessible for young people, try: Louise Gooding, (2023) Wonderfully Wired Brains:  An Introduction to the World of Neurodiversity.  dLondon, UK: Dorling Kindersley Limited. 

7  Barry Prizant discusses this technique in a vlog on his website specifically for teachers: Barry Prizant, ‘Barry Shares 5 Tips for Educators’ Dr Barry M Prizant, PhD CCC-SLP: Barry shares 5 Tips for Educators (3 min) . Last Accessed 16 June 2025.  

8  ‘Autistic Brain Differences in Learning’ Teacher Toolkit: Autistic Brain Differences in Learning - TeacherToolkit.  Last Accessed 13 June 2025.  

9  Barry Prizant discusses this technique in a vlog on his website specifically for teachers: Barry Prizant, ‘Barry Shares 5 Tips for Educators’ Dr Barry M Prizant, PhD CCC-SLP: Barry shares 5 Tips for Educators (3 min) . Last Accessed 16 June 2025.  

10  Here are some online resources geared toward supporting GLPs of any age:  ‘General Strategies for Gestalte Language Processors of Any Age.’  General strategies for gestalt language processors - Resource Library - Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust (last access 23 June 2025) and ‘Middle, High School and Young Adult Gestalt Language Processors’ Middle, High School and Young Adult Gestalt Language Processors (last accessed 23 June 2025).  

11  Marge Blanc, ‘The Natural Language Acquisition Guide: ‘Echolalia’ is all about gestalt language development’ on www.communicationdevelopmentcenter.com.  Last revised 14 January, 2024 and last accessed 16 June, 2025.   

12  ‘Self Regulation and Executive Function,’ EEF.  EEF | Self-Regulation and Executive Function. Last Accessed 13 June, 2025.