Teesside educators unite to explore AI’s future

Education leaders from across Teesside have come together to explore how artificial intelligence can improve teaching, support students and prepare young people for the changing world of work.

The inaugural Tees Digital Exchange, held at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium, brought together headteachers, education executives, researchers and teaching staff to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by AI.

Organised by Atomix Educational Trust in partnership with the Association of Education Advisers and the Institute of AI Education, the event marked the beginning of a regional collaboration aimed at helping schools, colleges, universities and businesses navigate technological change.

Discussions focused on how AI could improve teaching and learning, reduce staff workloads and equip students with skills for future careers, while addressing concerns around data protection, academic integrity and inequality.

Dr Nichole Munro, chief executive of Atomix Educational Trust, said: “This is the beginning of a conversation about what we might collectively build together in the Tees Valley.”

She emphasised the importance of collaboration rather than individual institutions developing their own approaches to AI.

Dr Munro added: “AI presents some real opportunities and also some very serious questions.

“Can it improve teaching and learning? Can it reduce workload for our staff? How do we prepare young people for a labour market in which AI is going to be commonplace? How do we protect our young people, academic integrity and our data? How can we use it to reduce inequality rather than deepen it?

“None of those questions can be answered by one school, one college, one Trust or one business and we should not strive for answers alone.

“There’s a reason that we have called this the Tees Digital Exchange – it’s because it’s not something that belongs to one institution.”

The initiative aims to establish a regional hub of digital excellence, encouraging educators to share experiences and work alongside researchers and businesses to develop practical approaches to AI.

Dr Munro added: “We’d like to see a teacher experimenting with AI in one school sharing what they’ve learned across the region, researchers working alongside teachers and businesses helping educational institutions understand how the world of work is changing.”

Attendees were invited to outline how they would like to see the technology used within their organisations, with their responses collected by Dr Beth Lane and Narinder Gill of the Institute of AI Education.

The findings will inform further research and be shared with education leaders across the Tees Valley.

During a panel discussion, Narinder explained how the institute had emerged from a need to help schools understand and respond to the rapid development of AI.

She said: “When Beth and I started talking, it was apparent there was a lot of noise around AI and people not knowing what to do with it – or buying tools and not really knowing what they were for.

“The Institute is something we want to stand the test of time as something that will continue to serve our youngest people, because we saw an issue, we saw a concern, where people were talking about AI and we wanted to bring those voices together.”

The discussion also explored the importance of introducing technology with clear objectives, rather than adopting new tools without understanding their benefits.

Al Kingsley MBE said: “We assume conversations around AI will be somehow different to broader digital conversations and when it comes to introducing any digital technology, we should be asking, ‘why are we doing it?’

“Then once we know why we are doing it, how we will measure it?”

He also emphasised the value of focusing on a small number of effective digital initiatives rather than introducing multiple tools and processes simultaneously.

Delegates heard from Les Walton CBE about creating equitable education systems and the importance of listening to those working within them.

Dr Mansoor Soomro, author of The Generalist Advantage, also explored how people with diverse skills and experience could play an increasingly important role in an AI-driven economy.

Organisers hope the exchange will lead to sustained collaboration between educational institutions and the region's growing digital sector, with details of the next event expected to be announced soon.

To join the conversation about AI in education across Teesside, email Noel Dennis, director of community and partnerships at Atomix, at noel.dennis@atomix.ac.uk.

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