Artificial Intelligence (AI) in schools: guidelines and guardrails

Section 1 - Core Principles of AI in Education (Guardrails)

This section explores the essential considerations for integrating artificial intelligence into educational contexts. It sets out the foundational principles, or guardrails, that should guide the use of AI in schools. ‘Guardrails’ is a commonly used term in the context of AI and includes the rules, policies, guidance and frameworks that help to ensure the responsible use of artificial intelligence. The aim of this section is to outline how AI can be harnessed to enhance educational outcomes while prioritising inclusivity, human connection, and the wellbeing of all children and young people and educators.

This guidance emphasises that the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in decisions about whether and how to implement AI in school education, in line with the requirements under UNCRC.

1) AI use must ensure the safety and privacy of children and young people and staff by prioritising children’s rights, teacher judgement, ethical standards, and data protection.

• Teachers, children and young people, and education leaders must be supported to develop an appropriate understanding of how AI works, its impacts, and its risks. This is important in developing an understanding of its capabilities, biases, and limitations to ensure responsible use.
• An ethical approach to AI, embedded within human-centred teaching and learning, is an approach designed to enhance learning experiences, foster human connection and support professional judgement.
• Teachers are able to decide whether, when, and how to use AI in their classrooms. Where they decide to use AI, this must be done in line with overarching local authority infrastructure, guidance and permissions.
• Local authorities have specific legal responsibilities under data protection law, which are detailed within Section 4 of this guidance. Notwithstanding this, as a general principle all AI users should understand how to protect data and safeguard pupils’ and teachers’ sensitive and/or personal information; this is critical to maintaining their safety, rights, and confidence in digital tools.
• Schools and local authorities must update existing digital technology policies to reflect the ethical use of AI. This should be carried out in consultation with teacher trade unions, and other stakeholders, including children and young people and parents and carers. This is necessary to define and underpin the ethical, safe and professionally responsible use of AI in educational contexts.

2) The use of AI must be underpinned by equity and fairness.

• The use of AI in schools must recognise and address the fact that children and young people’s access to digital learning tools, including AI, is variable and may be limited by a range of factors, including socio-economic disadvantage, geographical difference, and access to appropriate devices and connectivity.
• Where AI is used, it should support a human-centred approach to teaching and learning which values the diversity of children and young people and enhances different ways of learning and differentiated pedagogical approaches.
• When deployed effectively, some AI-enabled technologies have the potential to help overcome barriers to learning for some children and young people, including those with disabilities and additional support needs. The views of children and young people should always be sought and considered on the use of such technologies in their learning.
• Where AI is used in school learning, including homework, schools should aim to ensure equitable outcomes for all children and young people. This includes ensuring that all children and young people have the means to participate equitably. Consideration should be given to ensuring that, where AI is used, pupils in Gaelic Medium Education (GME) have access to AI through the medium of Gaelic language.

3) AI must support the aims of the Curriculum.

• Scotland’s curriculum is designed to ensure that our children and young people are equipped with the knowledge, skills and understanding to participate in the workforce and society of the future. Learning about AI can support this goal, assisting our children and young people by harnessing its advantages while ensuring that it neither deskills pupils nor disadvantages them in their development.
• Children and young people should learn about, understand and use AI, in appropriate contexts, as part of their entitlement to opportunities to develop skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work.
• Whilst recognising the increasing importance of digital skills and learning, schools should seek an appropriate balance between digital and non-digital forms of learning that recognises the primacy of human-centred, relational and social experiences of learning.
• As Scotland’s curriculum evolves through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle, learning about and using AI is expected to become more common and embedded across teaching and learning, requiring continuous evaluation of the role of AI in education.

4) AI must foster human connection and inclusivity.

• AI must support and enhance, rather than replace, human-centred teaching and learning in schools. It must not make decisions on behalf of teachers or schools.
• Educators and education leaders should be supported to ensure that the AI tools they utilise are accessible and support should be provided to ensure that the outputs resulting from the AI tools are unbiased and contribute to inclusive learning and teaching.
• The integration of AI should support learning and is not intended to replace peer-to-peer interaction or act as a substitute for teacher involvement.
• AI applications used in education to assess the progress of children and young people, or for other assessment purposes, should be applied with teacher oversight and used as part of a holistic approach.

5) AI must support teachers.

• Teachers, in line with their professional standards, local policies and wider statutory obligations, should be empowered to decide when and how to use AI tools to support learning and teaching, and adapt it to their specific classroom needs. They should also be aware of when AI has been integrated into existing digital products or platforms.
• Teachers should be supported to access high-quality professional learning and support so that they can make informed decisions about whether when, and how, to integrate AI into their practice confidently, safely, and effectively.
• Ongoing evaluation of AI tools, with teacher input, should be supported to explore potential benefits for teachers, such as freeing up more time for teachers to focus on direct engagement with pupils.
• AI systems, like all digital tools, should not be adopted or used uncritically and teachers and children and young people should be empowered to critique and challenge the outputs. Where adopted, AI should support educational goals, not define or control them.
• AI applications used in education, and the outputs thereof, must not be used to monitor or analyse teachers’ performance.