Is the need for AI literacy finally being recognised?
The Government’s recent announcement about upcoming changes to the school curriculum has sparked interest over at FlippGen, particularly around plans to improve AI literacy. In an endeavour to ‘bring the curriculum into the modern day’ and ‘help young people step into the future’, it seems the Government is finally acknowledging the growing importance of digital intelligence. With AI reshaping how we navigate industries and workplaces, we must question whether the current curriculum is suitably preparing students for their future. Perhaps, preparedness now means more than having skills in Maths and English, but also the confidence to understand, evaluate and use AI responsibly.
What exactly is AI literacy?
According to Digital Promise, having good AI literacy means having the knowledge and skills to understand, evaluate and use AI safely and ethically. There are several key components of AI literacy:
Understanding AI: being able to recognise how AI systems learn from data and understand its benefits, capabilities and limitations
Critically evaluating AI: being able to assess AI-generated information and recognise whether it is accurate and reliable or biased
Using AI responsibly: knowing how to use AI tools effectively and ethically
Having ethical awareness: understanding the key ethical issues surrounding the use of AI (which you can read about on the FlippGen website here)
Why is AI literacy so important?
AI is everywhere - it’s now an unavoidable aspect of most parts of our lives, having the power to shape how we work, live and learn. On a personal level, improved AI literacy equips us with many skills. It is important to avoid simply being over-dependent, passive users of this technology and use it to our advantage to encourage:
Informed decision-making: AI influences a lot of what we see in the digital world, such as targeted adverts and recommendations and news feeds. Therefore, having a good understanding of how AI systems work in terms of data processing and potential biases helps you to make informed and independent choices about what we choose to purchase, listen to and share, rather than blindly accepting what the algorithm wants us to.
Risk reduction: Understanding how using AI can increase the risks of misinformation, disinformation and deepfakes is important. AI literacy helps individuals to evaluate content and recognise these threats, and safeguard personal digital information.
Improved productivity and creativity: We all know how helpful AI is for making boring tasks easier, whether this is summarising long documents, drafting emails or translating text! However, good AI literacy helps us to use these tools effectively whilst maintaining our human creativity and judgement. We must be careful not to rely on AI tools too much and lose our critical thinking skills - AI is useful, but we’re not robots and need to keep our brains engaged.
So, not only is AI literacy a crucial skill in our personal lives, but it is likely to become a highly valued skill in many professional settings. As such, the upcoming incorporation of AI literacy into the school curricula will help schools set their students up for future success.
What do teachers say?
As this blog piece is focused on upcoming changes to school curricula, I thought it was appropriate to learn more about how AI is experienced in schools. Therefore, I got in contact with the ICT Department at my old high school; Mr Resende was more than happy to answer some questions!
Q: What skills around AI do you think students lack the most?
Firstly, it was highlighted that students (aged 11 - 18, in this case) lack critical evaluation skills when it comes to AI - “[students] tend to accept AI outputs without questioning accuracy or bias”. To help combat this issue, the ICT department uses AI for Oceans #2 - Code.org. This resource helps students understand how important data is: that “any AI is only as good as the data that we feed it”, and that “ambiguities can find their way into the data without us even realising”. Similarly, students don’t seem to understand that AI consists of “algorithms trained on data”. Instead, “many see AI as magic”.
Additionally, students lack the skills necessary to use AI safely and ethically, often overlooking issues like data privacy, copyright, and responsible operation. Mr Resende further commented: “It was obvious in the first few lesson delivering the AI curriculum, how little students understood about privacy and AI systems, most students overshared information, not just personal details but feelings, private/intimate discussions”.
Q: What do you think is the best way to educate students about AI?
Mr Resende considers Tytherington School to be ahead of the wave in terms of the upcoming changes to the curriculum, having already developed a curriculum of its own. This involves:
“Integrating AI literacy into the curriculum across subjects, not just Computer Science.”
“Hands-on projects using AI tools, combined with reflection on limitations and ethics.”
“Scenario-based discussions on real-world impacts (e.g., deepfakes, bias in hiring, job losses/market changes).”
“Digital citizenship lessons to reinforce safe and responsible use.”
Q: What do you think students most need to know about AI now and for their future after school?
Mr Resende highlighted several key points he thinks are most important for students to understand about AI now and in the future. Firstly, they must be aware that “AI is a tool, not a human brain.” AI predicts patterns - it doesn’t ‘think’ like we do. Because of this, AI outputs simply reflect the data it’s trained on, meaning it inevitably has biases and limitations. Students must be aware of these biases and limitations in order to critically evaluate the information provides, question its reliability, and make informed decisions about when/where to use it.
There are also ethical and legal implications to consider - “privacy, copyright and fairness matter.” For instance, students must learn how to protect their personal data, and understand how copyright relates to AI, particularly in relation to the use of generative AI. When AI generates texts and images etc., we must learn to question where these come from and who owns the copyright.
AI literacy also has workplace relevance - “many careers will involve AI collaboration, so adaptability and critical thinking are key”. AI technologies and systems are becoming more and more embedded into many professional sectors, so employers will be looking to hire individuals who can navigate these changes successfully.
Q: Have you seen any effects from the increased availability of AI in schools? Are these positive/negative?
Mr Resende reported negative impacts of the increased availability of AI in schools. There is an over-reliance on AI - “some students use AI to answer homework questions, rendering homework useless in terms of recall.” There are also “obvious plagiarism concerns”. Students’ use of AI in this way potentially put their ability to learn information at risk by preventing the development of their independent thinking, memory retention and academic standards.
In terms of positive outcomes, Mr Resende said “I haven't seen any of it YET due to limitations in space/technology etc., but I believe that with some resources we can achieve some level of personalized learning, accessibility for students with disabilities, and creativity boosts, in particular for SEND/EAL students.”
How does the new curriculum plan to improve AI literacy?
Citizenship will be made compulsory in primary - one element of this means children will learn media literacy early on. This includes spotting fake news and identifying information and disinformation. This should help children develop the critical thinking necessary to challenge what they see and protect them from risks online.
For older students, the narrowly focused computer science GCSE will be replaced with a broader, future-facing computing GCSE. A new qualification in data science and AI for 16-18 year olds is also being explored. This change is being made with the intention of helping more young people succeed in the science and tech careers that power our economy.
However, this new curriculum will only be implemented in full from September 2028. Based on thoughts information from several sources, It is clear that changes must be made sooner than this. And, who knows how else AI technologies and usage will have developed by then?!
So, what do we do in the meantime?
UNESCO recently produced an action plan highlighting ways to improve digital literacy skills. Within this, several suggestions are made about what civil society organisations (like FlippGen) can do to improve young peoples’ AI literacy before the 2028 curriculum comes into effect.
Firstly, civil society organisations should aim to develop practical tools and community-based initiatives, including peer support networks, to educate users on how to manage their digital footprint, reduce compulsive or addictive usage and behaviours on digital platforms.
Secondly, civil society organisations should aim to develop and implement youth-led initiatives for peer-to-peer education about countering harmful content online, like hate speech, disinformation, and conspiracy theories, and the importance of critical thinking
How is FlippGen doing this?
FlippGen is a youth-led digital wellbeing movement. By working with charities, youth organisations and young people themselves, it develops practical tools targeted at empowering the next generation to build healthier digital habits. These resources include blog posts like this one, but also more comprehensive kits and workshops such as the Digital IntelliGenZ kit. Based on this kit, upcoming digital intelligence workshops aim to deliver a peer-to-peer education programme.
The Digital Rebels Club - a youth advisory board made up of passionate young people - is a fantastic example of a peer support network that “helps educate others on striking the right balance between online and offline life, how to stay safe online, and knowing where to get support if needed”.
In partnership with The Logging Off Club, FlippGen has created a community based initiative focused on promoting less screen time and more real time. The FlippGen community is the perfect space for young people to connect with each other and inspire individual advocacy around building healthier relationships with technology and others.
To finish
Thank you for reading my blog post! I hope I’ve made it clear that the need for improved AI literacy is a growing issue, especially in educational settings. As AI continues to reshape how we live, learn, and work, schools must equip students not only with traditional skills like Maths and English, but also with the ability to understand, evaluate, and use AI responsibly. By embedding AI literacy into curricula and supporting initiatives from civil society organisations like FlippGen, we can ensure that young people are prepared for a future where digital intelligence and AI is central to everyday life.
Of course, at the end of the day, you don’t have to know everything about AI. I certainly don’t … it’s a very hard concept for me to grasp. However, it’s clearly important to educate ourselves as much as possible in small, digestible chunks. If you want to know more about AI, I recommend starting by reading the following FlippGen blog posts:
