AI in Education

Is AI a powerful tool that frees teachers to teach better or a threat that undermines genuine learning?

AUG 2·Updated AUG 11

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

AI will profoundly reshape education, but not as a silver bullet. Generative AI excels at automating administrative tasks — drafting communications, scheduling, summarizing documents — freeing teachers for genuine instructional work. As a teacher support tool, AI generates practice tasks, rubrics and worked examples, amplifying expertise rather than replacing it. Of course, assessment design must evolve, and ethical deployment requires professional investment.

Dylan Wiliam's Substack Boston University

Establishment-critical narrative

AI substitutes the appearance of understanding for the disciplined effort required to achieve it. Students who rely on AI to write essays may submit polished work, but in the process they are bypassing meaningful cognitive engagement. Teachers who outsource lesson design and feedback risk deskilling, thus eroding the pedagogical expertise separating novice from master. Indeed, those with shallow background knowledge and poor critical thinking skills will be doomed in the real world.

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