Arriving 16th October: a new report covering nine practitioner-led action research projects on AI in schools
Artificial intelligence is already present in England’s schools. Teachers use it to mark work, plan lessons, prepare materials, support pupils with special educational needs, and streamline administration. Students use it for research, writing, summarising, revision, language drills, and mathematics practice. But using AI tools does not necessarily mean learning with or from them.
Adoption of AI in England has been rapid, but it has also been uneven and largely unsupported by evidence. The Shape the Future Leaders Coalition research programme, supported by Good Future Foundation, and Cambridge OCR, was established to change that.
This new report presents the findings of the Coalition’s first research cohort: nine practitioner-led action research projects conducted over the 2025/26 school year by school and trust leaders from across England, in settings ranging from a preparatory school to a 48-school multi-academy trust, with pupils aged 4 to 16. The projects were designed separately, around different tools and questions, but read together they converge on six key findings and a common message.
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EDUCATE VENTURES RESEARCH
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World renowned thought leaders on AI in education
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Convenors of grassroots-empowered school, college, and higher education leaders
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AI Weekly Briefing
Professor Rose Luckin’s AI weekly briefing explores the critical intersection of artificial intelligence and education.
Key themes focus on bridging the digital divide, preventing the loss of student critical thinking, and balancing AI tools with cognitive development. It champions "human-in-the-loop" frameworks, demonstrating that blending human judgement with tech maximizes learning outcomes while protecting equity in the classroom.
Resources for Education
Meet Rose Luckin, Founder & CEO of Educate Ventures Research, and Professor Emerita of Learner Centred Design at UCL's Knowledge Lab.
Rose has spent over 30 years developing and studying AI for education. She is renowned for her research into the design and evaluation of educational technology and AI, and has been named as one of the 20 most influential people in education in the 2017 Seldon List, and is the only non-US winner to have received the prestigious ISTE Impact Award. At Bett UK 2025, Rose was presented with the Bett Global Outstanding Achievement award - their highest honour.
Rose is the architect of Rose's AI, and is behind many of the resources in the EVR Resource bank.
Partners
Professor Rose Luckin CBE: Recognised for Services to Education
We are proud to share that EVR's founder and CEO, Professor Rose Luckin, has been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in His Majesty The King's Birthday 2026 Honours, for services to education.
Professor Luckin is a Professor Emerita at UCL's Knowledge Lab and one of the world's leading researchers on AI and learning, with over thirty years of work that has shaped how policymakers, schools, and governments think about what AI can and cannot do for learners.
In receiving this honour, she joins a small number of researchers whose careers have genuinely changed the terms of a national conversation.
In her own words: "Good education changed the course of my life, taking me from a persistent truant at age thirteen to a professor, and I have spent my career trying to pass that on. Our aim is simple: to make sure AI helps people learn rather than replacing the human relationships at the heart of learning."
That aim is also EVR's. The research, the partnerships, the training, and the tools we build together exist for one reason: to put sound evidence about how people actually learn at the centre of decisions about AI in education.
We congratulate Rose wholeheartedly, and we thank the teachers, school leaders, researchers, and partners whose work this honour also reflects.