• 76% of English teachers report using AI tools, but only 20% feel they have received enough training, according to recent research.

• The British Council offers a free guide with practical recommendations for implementing fair and inclusive application of AI in schools.

Madrid, 23 April. 76% of English teachers report using AI tools, but only 20% feel they have received enough training, highlighting a ‘concerning skills gap’, according to British Council research[1].On English Language Day (23 April), the UK’s international organisation for culture and education suggests that school leaders can help teachers come to terms with the use of AI by adopting a human-centred leadership approach. It also offers a free guide with strategic recommendations for implementing the fair and inclusive application of AI within English language teaching, learning and assessment.

The AI in language learning: lessons for school leaders guide is based on the principles described in the British Council’s Human-Centred Framework[2]. It explores how AI can enhance English language education through greater personalisation, improved feedback, and more authentic assessment, while also addressing the challenges schools face around ethics, bias, data privacy, and teacher readiness.

‘With this resource, school leaders will be able to both embrace the opportunities offered by AI and overcome its challenges by understanding AI as a collaborator or peer rather than a teacher or sole authority,’ remarks Mariano Felice, Research Lead for AI at the British Council.

The guide also explains the pillars of ethical leadership in schools and includes a model for AI integration, as well as seven strategic recommendations to help integrate generative AI effectively, in line with the core values of inclusion, fairness, and global connectivity.

Seven strategic recommendations for school leaders

1. Invest in AI literacy professional development. Shift the teacher training focus from simple tool usage to critical evaluation, ethical considerations and advanced prompt design. Teachers must learn to critique, not just utilise, AI outputs.
2. Establish an AI ethics review panel. Create a standing internal group to vet all new EdTech tools. This panel will assess tools for bias, privacy compliance and pedagogical alignment before procurement and can formally demand transparency regarding the training data used by providers.
3. Redefine the teacher role. Formally acknowledge AI’s capacity to automate administrative and routine tasks. Leaders can then shift the focus of teacher time towards high-value human skills, such as emotional support, mediation and collaboration with students.
4. Update academic integrity policies. Develop clear, school-wide policies addressing AI-generated work. The focus of these policies must be on teaching the process of critical writing and thinking, over simply assessing the final product. With 79 per cent of teachers already forced to rethink their assignment methods, school-wide policies must catch up to provide a unified framework for these classroom-level adaptations.
5. Audit for equity and inclusion. Actively check all AI tools for their capacity to support diverse learner needs and various language varieties, ensuring the technology reduces, rather than increases, educational barriers.
6. Focus on collaborative pedagogy. Design curriculum elements that integrate AI for self-study and practice (e.g., generating drafts, quizzing), which are then immediately followed by a human-led, collaborative application of the learned material.
7. Prioritise global connectivity. Try to implement tools and projects that facilitate collaboration across geographical boundaries, using AI to bridge linguistic and cultural gaps, thereby enhancing students’ global competence.

[1] Artificial intelligence and English language teaching: preparing for the future.

[2] Human-centred AI: lessons for English learning and assessment.