Most schools have put their AI energy into staff. The students are the ones sitting the exams and writing the personal statements, and most are working it out alone. www.azimuth.org.uk/student-enga...
José Picardo
@josepicardo.bsky.social
Experienced school leader | Education consultant | Helping schools, educators & organisations to lead with clarity, teach with impact, and grow with purpose.
AI submissions were slipped into a marking pile at a UK university. Markers missed 94%. Detection software is blunt. A question does better: could you explain this without the AI? www.azimuth.org.uk/the-wizard-o...
Most schools have handed the AI question to a working party or the one enthusiast on the staff. The party meets three times a year. A policy appears in the right folder. Nothing got better, only faster. www.azimuth.org.uk/digital-stra...
One group used a textbook. One had unrestricted GPT-4. In practice the AI group improved 48%. Unaided after, they scored 17% below the textbook group. They believed they had learned more. www.azimuth.org.uk/the-wizard-o...
The claim that AI could end civilisation now sits at the top of every conversation. A sociologist mapped how panics of this kind unfold half a century ago. Following his map does not tell us whether the fear is right. But it can guide us while we find out.
AI and the anatomy of a moral panic
The claim that AI could end civilisation now sits at the top of every conversation. A sociologist mapped how panics of this kind unfold half a century ago. Following his map does not tell us whether the fear is right. But it can guide us while we find out.
azimuth.org.uk
Most AI training for schools teaches people to operate the software. Prompting sessions. Tours of the tools. The harder skill is judgement: knowing what to ask for, and whether what comes back is any good. www.azimuth.org.uk/professional...
Who builds the better website: someone who has never coded but has AI, or a developer with the same AI? You answered instantly. Same tool, two pairs of hands, two outcomes. What separates them is expertise. www.azimuth.org.uk/the-better-t...
When it comes to AI, heads often look at how to make “efficiencies” and overlook how it can add value.
How is AI similar to the Wizard of Oz? I know you’ve always wondered…
Four in five teenagers now use AI. A quarter copy it straight into their homework. Which makes the argument about permission a late one. The question still on the table: who stays responsible for the thinking? www.azimuth.org.uk/resources/
More efficient than a year ago. Is your school any better for it? A plan written in half the time is efficient. If it asks no judgement about the children in the room, we have made mediocrity faster. www.azimuth.org.uk/efficiency-i...
With special surprise guest!
José Picardo@josepicardo.bsky.social · 2mo agoWhat the f*#* America? At Leicester Sq Theatre this evening watching the live collab between @lincolnproject.us & @quietriotpod.bsky.social with @pimlicat.bsky.social @sturdyalex.bsky.social @therickwilson.bsky.social @mayaonstage.bsky.social @peterjukes.bsky.social & @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social
What the f*#* America? At Leicester Sq Theatre this evening watching the live collab between @lincolnproject.us & @quietriotpod.bsky.social with @pimlicat.bsky.social @sturdyalex.bsky.social @therickwilson.bsky.social @mayaonstage.bsky.social @peterjukes.bsky.social & @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social
Most schools assume AI will lift their weakest teachers. AI and teacher expertise work the other way round: the better the teacher, the more the tool adds. Which means availability widens the gap across a staff body, and that most AI training is aimed at the wrong thing.
The Better the Teacher, the More AI Adds
Most schools assume AI will lift their weakest teachers. AI and teacher expertise work the other way round: the better the teacher, the more the tool adds. Which means availability widens the gap across a staff body, and that most AI training is aimed at the wrong thing.
azimuth.org.uk
AI has arrived in statutory safeguarding guidance. Compliance with KCSIE 2026 is the floor; your digital strategy is the ceiling, and only you can set it.
What KCSIE 2026 means for your school digital strategy
AI has arrived in statutory safeguarding guidance. Compliance with KCSIE 2026 is the floor; your digital strategy is the ceiling, and only you can set it.
azimuth.org.uk
With no firm evidence that AI helps children learn or that it harms them, a classroom ban cannot be the evidence-led choice it claims to be. The honest response is to experiment carefully, with the professional judgement schools rely on every other day.
Caution as Method: A Wiser Way to Bring AI into School
With no firm evidence that AI helps children learn or that it harms them, a classroom ban cannot be the evidence-led choice it claims to be. The honest response is to experiment carefully, with the professional judgement schools rely on every other day.
azimuth.org.uk
Technology rarely changes one big thing. It changes plenty of small ones, spread across how your staff already work, which is why leading AI well comes down to better thinking, not better policies.
Efficiency Is the Wrong Question: Leading AI in Schools
Technology rarely changes one big thing. It changes plenty of small ones, spread across how your staff already work, which is why leading AI well comes down to better thinking, not just better policies.
azimuth.org.uk
Who Is Doing the Thinking? A Leader’s Briefing The decision about AI in your school has already been made, by the pupils, who are years into using it while leadership teams debate the principle. The question still on the table is yours: who stays responsible for the thinking once AI arrives? A…
Who Is Doing the Thinking? A Leader’s Briefing
The decision about AI in your school has already been made, by the pupils, who are years into using it while leadership teams debate the principle. The question still on the table is yours: who stays responsible for the thinking once AI arrives? A fifteen-minute briefing for heads, trust leaders and senior teams. Free to download.
azimuth.org.uk
What ISI’s inspection reports reveal about teaching and learning in independent schools
What ISI’s inspection reports reveal about teaching and learning in independent schools
Teaching is the finding ISI raises most often, and almost never the one that fails a school. After going through 395 of this academic year’s routine inspection reports, here is what they reveal about teaching and learning, and what it means before your next inspection.
azimuth.org.uk
The Digital Paradox: Why to Invest in Digital Training Is to Invest in Teaching and Learning Every school I know puts teaching and learning first, then cuts the training that would improve it without a second thought. This article explores why we do that, and what the real cost of it is.
The Digital Paradox: Why to Invest in Digital Training Is to Invest in Teaching and Learning
Every school I know puts teaching and learning first, then cuts the training that would improve it without a second thought. This article explores why we do that, and what the real cost of it is.
azimuth.org.uk
From Purpose to Practice A guide for leaders on adopting technology across a school, built around the principle that technology should serve pedagogy. Includes a framework for adoption.
From Purpose to Practice
A guide for leaders on adopting technology across a school, built around the principle that technology should serve pedagogy. Includes a framework for adoption.
azimuth.org.uk
Beyond the Device A guide to building a school digital strategy that starts with teaching and learning rather than technology. Six ideas, each with a discussion prompt.
Beyond the Device
A guide to building a school digital strategy that starts with teaching and learning rather than technology. Six ideas, each with a discussion prompt.
azimuth.org.uk
Asking Better Questions A reference setting out seven types of classroom question, each with example prompts, to reveal what a student understands.
Asking Better Questions
A reference setting out seven types of classroom question, each with example prompts, to reveal what a student understands.
azimuth.org.uk
Evaluating the Impact of Technology A framework for assessing whether technology has improved teaching and learning, with prompts and a 1–5 rating across five areas.
Evaluating the Impact of Technology
A framework for assessing whether technology has improved teaching and learning, with prompts and a 1–5 rating across five areas.
azimuth.org.uk
AI in Schools: A Practical Strategy A one-page strategy setting out six principles for introducing AI in a school, starting with the learning rather than the tool.
AI in Schools: A Practical Strategy
A one-page strategy setting out six principles for introducing AI in a school, starting with the learning rather than the tool.
azimuth.org.uk
Digital Strategy Self-Evaluation Framework A self-assessment for reviewing the quality, coherence and impact of a school’s digital strategy across six areas, with a 1–5 rating scale.
Digital Strategy Self-Evaluation Framework
A self-assessment for reviewing the quality, coherence and impact of a school’s digital strategy across six areas, with a 1–5 rating scale.
azimuth.org.uk
Planning with Purpose A checklist of nine evidence-informed teaching habits, from priming the learning to building independence.
Planning with Purpose
A checklist of nine evidence-informed teaching habits, from priming the learning to building independence.
azimuth.org.uk
Ten Signs of Toxic Leadership A reflection tool describing ten patterns of toxic leadership and how each shows up in a team. Framed for honest self-reflection rather than diagnosing others.
Ten Signs of Toxic Leadership
A reflection tool describing ten patterns of toxic leadership and how each shows up in a team. Framed for honest self-reflection rather than diagnosing others.
azimuth.org.uk
How Learning Really Happens A one-page summary of six findings from cognitive science and what each means for classroom teaching.
How Learning Really Happens
A one-page summary of six findings from cognitive science and what each means for classroom teaching.
azimuth.org.uk