Written question WQ89767

Across the education sector we are undertaking discovery work to ensure we have all the relevant intelligence to understand and utilise emerging technologies. This will be supported by academia; industry experts and robust evidence. This work will inform further support for the sector which is future-proofed and useful to schools. We will ensure that the safeguarding, security, and ethical considerations are at the forefront, including the safety and appropriateness of learners’ use of AI, equity considerations, varying levels of accuracy of this technology, and potential misuse. It will also consider the Curriculum for Wales, addressing teacher workload, and the digital skills learners need for the future.

Digital technologies hold huge potential for enhancing learners’ knowledge, experiences and skills. As we support our schools to meet learners’ future needs, we can leverage digital tools to drive innovative teaching practices and pedagogy. However, we need to strike the balance between the opportunities of technology and their responsible, safe and ethical use.

We continue to take a national approach to deliver digital infrastructure and services to schools. The Hwb programme has established a reliable and robust way for schools to access safe and secure technologies, with simple and equitable access for all our learners and practitioners in maintained schools. Hwb already supports the integration of AI through several products and services like Adobe Express and we will support further opportunities as appropriate.

We are also working with Qualifications Wales who have recently published a statement on the challenges and opportunities of AI for qualifications, including for teaching and learning, qualification and assessment design, qualification delivery, and the knowledge, skills and experiences contained within them.