Joshua Levenson is an Executive Headteacher in London, leading a highly successful primary school celebrated for its exceptional performance and strong community ethos. He supports leadership development and school improvement across London, mentors new headteachers, and collaborates with universities on teacher training. Passionate about global citizenship and inclusive education, Joshua integrates innovative strategies to enhance engagement and learning behaviour. As an educational consultant and school inspector, he is committed to fostering excellence and values-driven leadership in schools.
As we consider the role of AI in our lives, one quote has kept popping up on my echo-chamber social media feeds: “I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes” (Joanna Maciejewska). I get the point of this, but is this why I am looking for AI to continue its march into the fabric of our lives and our world? Honestly, the last thing I want is a 7-foot robot stomping around my house doing my laundry and dishes. My house isn’t like stepping into Apple HQ, but I do have a robot vacuum, called Wrigley, and he gets in the way as it is. We don’t need AI in our lives to help with our vacuuming and dishes – we already have automated products for that.
So as we think about whether we just want AI to do the stuff that we feel is a waste of time and help us have more time to do the things that we really enjoy, we need to think about whether we want AI to be the equivalent of a 7 foot giant by your side, or maybe something else.
The one quote which I feel is most enlightening on how to use AI has come from the acclaimed educational leader, Emma Nolan – “AI is like a great colleague.”
Think of the best colleague you’ve ever worked with for a moment. They probably helped, collaborated, led on tasks, supported with projects, but if you used their skills to do every aspect of your role, then you probably didn’t need to be there at all. If this amazing colleague (Actual or AI) did EVERYTHING, then you become unnecessary, and it is a full takeover. AI needs to be more like that supportive and helpful colleague you were thinking of. This colleague is there to share the load, maybe do some of the heavy lifting, and can free you up for the thinking and designing, and other cerebral aspects. If this is how you are using AI, then this is a productive use of AI.
A NY Times article that shows just how powerful this way of thinking can be is Not a Coder? With A.I., Just Having an Idea Can Be Enough by Kevin Roose. The author had a bit of ‘know-how’ and lots of ideas on what he wanted the apps to do, but not the technical capabilities or the time to turn these ideas into apps. However, between him and AI, they produced a range of apps. Using AI as a coding colleague to build apps has opened up a whole new world. This also chimes in with the thinking of the leading AI educator, Dan Fitzpatrick – “we need AI to help with our doing, not our thinking.”
However, for students (and adults), this often isn’t how they want to use it. Students want the right answer to a question and they want it immediately, and the question of whether they used AI ‘a little or a lot’ isn’t the greatest consideration. Try convincing a teenager that using AI to just get the right answer, right now isn’t what they want to be or shouldn’t be doing. The issue is much bigger than convincing students that they can’t use AI to write brilliant answers to questions, though. Trying to produce the best answer shows that this is an education system that only values the correct answer. It isn’t valuing the working out, or the process, or the reading and referencing. Maybe we are asking the wrong questions? Or maybe we are tunnelling our students down an alley where they just want to find the quickest way to get an answer, as opposed to wanting to develop their knowledge on the subject.
I’ll return to the ‘doing, not thinking’ angle though. If WE can use AI to write our letters, plan our lessons, and assess our students, then why can’t our students use it to help them write an essay or two? Again, this would just be AI taking over and not joining in. In short, we need to move more towards using AI like that supportive colleague or the ‘helpful student who knows a lot of answers’, and prioritise making sure our students are supplementing their knowledge, not substituting their knowledge.
The CEO of a multi academy trust in the UK, John Grove, says that for school improvement visits, you are already doing everything you have been working on since the last visit, so the hard work has been done, but it is wise to ‘make it slick’ before any visitors come in. Maybe AI is also our magic wand and our ‘Mary Poppins effect’. On a task, if you do a portion and AI tidies it up, polishes it, it doesn’t have to do the last touch, but if between the both of you, you make the task look brilliant, then this may be the best way to use AI. AI is adding to your team, not deleting you from the team. Welcome them in! Collaboration is key!