Decisions in Practice helps school leadership teams understand what AI changes, decide what matters for their school and turn those decisions into clear, workable practice.
AI is already part of how students learn. It can also make learning harder to see
Students use AI to explain concepts, answer questions, summarise information, get started and create revision material. These uses can support learning. They can also replace some of the thinking and practice students need to do themselves.
Teachers use student work to judge what a student knows and can do independently. AI can make that harder to see.
What students can produce
AI can make finished work more sophisticated than the learning underneath it.
What students need to do themselves
AI can support learning, but it can also remove thinking or practice the task was designed to develop.
What teachers can trust
Where work is used to judge understanding or progress, schools need to know whether it is reliable enough for that purpose.
79%
of 13 to 18-year-olds said they had used generative AI.
The issue is not simply whether students use AI. It is what that use means for learning, practice and the evidence teachers rely on.
How Decisions in Practice works
A different approach
Start with the decision, then test what the response depends on
Schools can introduce a rule or process that looks clear but still depends on students or staff doing something the school cannot reliably see or check. A School AI Approach Review starts with the decision the school actually needs to make, then tests the realistic ways to respond.
Instead of
Should we ban AI for homework?
Start with
What is this homework for, what do students need to do themselves and when does the school need independent evidence?
A declaration only helps if
01
Students report accurately
02
Staff respond consistently
03
The information improves the teacher’s judgement
From the first question to a clear recommendation
How the review works
The first step establishes the purpose of the activity, what students need to do themselves, where AI can support that purpose and what evidence the school needs to trust. The review then compares realistic options and tests what each depends on students and staff doing in practice.
01
Get the question right
02
Compare realistic options
03
Test what each option depends on
04
Check this against what the school knows
05
Reach a clear recommendation
How schools can work with Decisions in Practice
Understand. Decide. Put into practice
Understand
AI: Don’t Panic
A leadership session about what AI can do, what it changes for schools, what needs attention now, what can wait and where decisions are needed. It is not a product demonstration or generic AI training.
Decide
School AI Approach Review
Flagship service
A focused review of one specific issue such as homework, assessment, student AI expectations, staff use or an existing policy. It brings together relevant guidance, the school’s context and realistic options, then gives a clear recommendation and practical next steps.
Put into practice
From decision to practice
Optional follow-on support to turn a decision into guidance, staff or student expectations, communication, changes to practice or policy.
Schools can start at the stage that fits their situation. This is not a compulsory sequence.
School AI Approach Review
What is a School AI Approach Review?
A focused review of one issue, such as homework, assessment, student expectations, staff use or an existing approach. It helps leaders apply relevant guidance to their context and agree clear recommendations and next steps.
A review might focus on
AI and homework
AI and assessment
Student AI expectations
Staff use of AI
An existing AI policy
You receive
✓ A clear recommendation and why
✓ Practical next steps
✓ What needs to change
✓ What the school should expect to see
The written document records the work. The real output is a clear way forward.
The leadership context
Schools need to be able to explain the decisions they make about AI
AI is already part of school life, but many schools are still working out what their position should be.
Guidance from organisations such as the Department for Education and the Education Endowment Foundation is useful. School leaders still need to decide what applies to their school and what to do next.
There is no shortage of AI guidance and information. The challenge is finding what is relevant, keeping up with what has changed and creating enough leadership time to work out what it means for the school.
Decisions in Practice brings the relevant material to the decision, rather than expecting leaders to piece everything together themselves.
“Our focus is, instead, on the quality of decision-making about AI.”
The point is not that every school needs a detailed AI strategy or a new policy. It is that leaders are making important decisions while practice is changing quickly and the evidence is still developing.
Schools do not need to have every answer. They do need to be able to explain the decisions they make.
Mat DoddDecisions in Practice
About
School experience. An external perspective
I spent ten years teaching and working in school leadership, most recently as Director of Sixth Form. My experience includes academic and pastoral leadership, curriculum development, staff training and whole-school change.
I also found AI difficult to keep up with, with exciting possibilities and worrying stories competing with urgent work.
That first-hand experience shapes how I approach AI decisions. School leaders know their own context best. An external review adds a different perspective without being tied to the original proposal, an existing policy or the way the issue has previously been discussed.
Decisions in Practice is independent of AI platforms and vendors. There is no product to sell and no fixed view that schools should use more or less AI.
Contact
Start with a conversation
If your school is working through an AI-related decision, I’d be delighted to hear from you.
Tell me a little about the issue your leadership team is trying to resolve and I can let you know whether a School AI Approach Review could help.
