EducAItion, EducAItion, EducAItion
For those of you like me who were hoping for a whiff of education policy at the Tony Blair Institute’s ‘Future of Britain’ conference last week, you may have been left feeling a little disappointed. Unlike with the topics of health, the environment or defence, education did not enjoy an AI-fuelled ‘art of the possible’ discussion on stage. No Salman Khan or Sir Anthony Seldon to give us a big-picture reimagining of education as we know it.
What’s odd, however, is that this omission sits in stark contrast to the ambitious policy stance taken by the same former Prime Minister’s Policy Sandbox on education. On the eve before the conference, the TBI released its landmark report, accompanied by one punchy paper titled “The Economic Case for AI-Enabled Education.”
In my humble opinion, it’s not received the attention it deserves online, and that might be because it’s not that easy to find, nestled deep within the TBI’s main report. But with that said, I wanted to break down the key proposals for techUK members, highlighting the costing projections put forward by its authors.
Drawing initial focus on the economic benefits of increased educational attainment and the impact of edtech, the report includes some interesting reading on past studies. I’d encourage interested readers to check out the report in full since that’s not what we’ll be focusing on here. What will be of interest to our readers are the several meaty initiatives proposed within the paper. If, as Blair said in his opening keynote, "radical benefits ... could be truly revolutionary if we seize the opportunity,” the following initiatives are a clarion call for the new government to put its money where its mouth is in modernising the education system!
Labour's ID Legacy Digitally Revisited (again)
Understanding that no nationwide rollout can get out the door without putting interoperability front and centre, the TBI’s first proposal (but not its first time proposing it) calls for the creation of a Digital Learner ID system. This also should not come as a surprise for conference attendees who received a healthy serving of Digital ID with their morning coffee. In short, the DLID system aims to integrate all educational information for each of our 10+ million students into a seamless, real-time accessible platform, with an eye to enhancing the involvement of students, parents, and teachers in the educational process.
Key Costing Proposals:
- Setup Costs: £52 million
- Ongoing Maintenance: £10 million per year
Putting the AI in EducAItion
Equally potent, but by no means farfetched considering the stellar work of the government’s AI crack team at it's AI incubator, is the proposal for an AI foundational model for education. This initiative envisions a government-finetuned AI model and deepened engagement with private edtech providers, with an eye to creating a vibrant market for AI tools for both teachers and students.
Key Costing Proposals:
- Setup Costs: £40 million
- Ongoing Costs: £300 million per year, plus an additional £100 million for data security, storage, and management
The New Device Deal
To fully harness the power of AI tutors, assessors, and trainers, schools need the hardware. A recent DfE report puts the ratio of devices to the number of pupils at less than 1:4. It’s no surprise then that TBI's strategy includes a comprehensive rollout of tablets for teachers, secondary students, and proportionally for primary students, being cognizant of public concerns around screen time in early years.
Key Costing Proposals:
- Ongoing Costs: £0.6 billion per year for procurement and maintenance of high-quality tablets
Practitioners in the Loop
Finally, to fully utilise AI-enabled educational tools, the report recommends revamping the UK's CPD teacher training. This includes extensive training for senior school leaders and ongoing CPD updates to ensure all educators are equipped with the necessary digital skills and competencies.
Key Costing Proposals:
- Setup Costs: £0.2 billion
- Ongoing Costs: £0.16 billion per year for continued training and programme updates
What’s of no doubt is that these are substantial and substantive proposals, many of which are being widely echoed across the education and edtech ecosystem. How these proposals will be received and responded to, remains to be seen. However, the combined efforts of our education and edtech programme, along with the long-established AI innovation work here at techUK, put us in a strong position to help sector stakeholders address some of the practicalities of realising the potential of AI within education.
Austin Earl
Austin joined techUK’s Central Government team in March 2024 to launch a workstream within Education and EdTech.