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# Mind the Gap: Why Parents Should Ask Schools About AI
- URL: https://thegreenparent.co.uk/mind-the-gap-why-parents-should-ask-schools-about-ai/
- Published: 2026-10-07T18:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-07T18:29:59.000Z
- Description: Three quarters of teachers now use AI, but half of schools have no policy on it. An ethical AI expert explains what parents should ask, and five principles every school can adopt now.
- Author: The Green Parent
- Tags: school, parenting, family life

This week Google made its [**free AI training for teachers**](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/education/making-ai-training-available-to-uk-and-ireland-educators/?ref=thegreenparent.co.uk) available to all 650,000 educators in the UK and Ireland. It's a sign of how quickly artificial intelligence is moving into the classroom. According to the [**National Education Union**](https://neu.org.uk/latest/press-releases/state-education-2026-ai?ref=thegreenparent.co.uk), 76% of teachers now use AI tools in their day-to-day work, up from 53% a year ago. Yet 49% say their school has no AI policy at all, for either staff or pupils.

A [**report led by Sir Anthony Seldon**](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw8r68mpm6p3o?ref=thegreenparent.co.uk), the former head teacher and author on AI in education, describes AI's arrival in schools as “chaotic and anarchic”. It calls for a national framework, with every school in England to have its own AI strategy by September 2027\. Polling for the report of more than 4,000 young people aged 11 to 24 found that 87% have already used an AI tool, while fewer than one in ten feel their school or university is preparing them for a world with AI.

Jonny Murphy-Campbell, an ethical AI expert at [**Resolvable**](https://resolvable.com/?ref=thegreenparent.co.uk), says parents have every reason to ask their child's school how AI is being used.

> “AI use itself isn't a threat to children or schools. With the right governance it could vastly improve how teaching is delivered, how work is marked and how children learn. But there's a clear gap between how many pupils are using AI and how many schools have a formal policy. That's the policy vacuum we have in our education system. Children need to be protected, and they also need to be ready for a world where AI is advancing rapidly, with skills like discernment and human judgement.”

## A postcode lottery

The real risk, Jonny says, isn't AI itself but the lack of rules around it. “Without a framework you get a postcode lottery. One school teaches pupils to question what AI tells them, while the school down the road has no idea it's being used to write entire essays. Everyone is making it up as they go along.”

He sees three blind spots in most schools: where pupils' data ends up; over-reliance on AI at exactly the age children should be building independent thinking; and a widening gap between schools with the resources to build their own approach and those without.

“None of this requires AI to be banned or feared,” he says. “It requires someone to own the decision. Right now, in most schools, nobody does.”

## Five principles for using AI well

While schools wait for national guidance, Jonny suggests five principles every school, and every family, can adopt now. They also make good questions to ask at your next parents' evening.

### 1\. Make AI use visible

Whether AI has been used shouldn't be assumed. Pupils and staff should say openly when they've used it, rather than it being discovered after the fact.

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### 2\. Protect the thinking, not just the results

AI should never do the learning for a child, only support it. Schools should make sure it doesn't get in the way of critical thinking or imagination.

### 3\. Keep a human in charge of marking and feedback

AI might help teachers with marking, but feedback should always be checked and given by a person. AI doesn't have the context, nuance or experience of a teacher who knows your child.

### 4\. Treat pupil data as a safeguarding issue

Children's personal information should never be put into AI chatbots. Before any tool is used, schools should know exactly what happens to the data and who can see it, just as they would in other regulated settings such as healthcare.

### 5\. Teach discernment, not just how to use it

AI isn't always right, and children need to learn that its answers aren't gospel. Discernment comes with maturity, so children using these tools should be old enough to understand their limits and think critically about what they're told.

*Find out more about responsible AI at* [***Resolvable***](https://resolvable.com/?ref=thegreenparent.co.uk)*.*