What you will learn
- Name the two failed reflexes, the ban and the open door, and why each one leaves students unprotected.
- State your school's position on AI in one page a parent can read.
- Form a working group that owns the framework and set a realistic first term.
Before a single tool is chosen, a school needs a position. This module builds the foundation the rest of the framework stands on: a clear stance, the right people, and a plan sized to one term rather than one leadership away-day.
The gap every school is living in
Two facts sit under this work. Generative AI reached students through their phones before any policy was written, and teachers were handed the problem with almost no training. In the space between those two facts, two reflexes appear, and both fail.
The ban fails because it is unenforceable. Students keep using the tools at home, they simply stop telling anyone, and the school loses the one thing it had: visibility. The open door fails for the opposite reason. Waving the technology through with no structure invites copied work and a quiet loss of the thinking that school exists to build. A framework is the third option, and it is the only one that holds.
Write the one-page position first
The first artefact is not a tool choice. It is a single page, in plain language, that a parent, a teacher, and a fourteen-year-old can all read and understand. It answers three questions. What is AI for in this school? What is it not for? Who do I ask when I am unsure? If the page runs longer than one side, no one will read it, and a policy no one reads is decoration.
Try this
Draft your one-page position in a single sitting with your working group. Use three headings: We use AI to, We do not use AI to, and Ask us if. Keep every line concrete. "We use AI to help teachers plan and differentiate" beats "We embrace innovation".
Form the working group that owns this
A framework needs an owner. Four to six people is the right size: a senior leader, two or three teachers who are curious rather than expert, someone who handles data or IT, and if possible a parent voice. The group does not need the most tech-confident people in the building. It needs the most trusted, because this is a change in professional practice, and trust is what carries change.
Set an honest first term
No school will feel ready, because the tools move faster than any policy cycle. A group that waits for certainty will wait forever while its students carry on with no guidance at all. Size the first term to what you can actually do: write the position, train the staff, and pilot in a few willing classrooms. That is enough. Widening comes later, once you have learned something real.
What the frameworks say
Every major school AI framework starts with vision and governance rather than tools. The Independent Schools NSW model opens with strategic vision and a phased approach. The NCEE leadership framework asks leaders to set short-term and long-term strategy before integration. TeachAI structures the whole effort as iterative improvement cycles owned by a team.
- AI Implementation for Schools Framework (Independent Schools NSW)
- Framework for AI-Powered Learning Environments (National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE))
- TeachAI: AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit (TeachAI (Code.org, ETS, ISTE, Khan Academy, World Economic Forum))
- A Step-by-Step Guide to AI in Schools (The 74)
Sources for this module
- AI Implementation for Schools Framework, Independent Schools NSW. https://www.isnsw.edu.au
- Framework for AI-Powered Learning Environments, National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE). https://ncee.org
- TeachAI: AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit, TeachAI (Code.org, ETS, ISTE, Khan Academy, World Economic Forum). https://www.teachai.org
- A Step-by-Step Guide to AI in Schools, The 74. https://www.the74million.org