RIYADH: Education systems are repeating old edtech mistakes by introducing AI through tools and devices before training teachers, preparing school communities and putting safeguards in place, a UNESCO official said. Shafika Isaacs, UNESCO’s chief of section for technology and AI in education, told Arab News on Wednesday: “We’ve really learned that we cannot take a technology-first approach to its (AI) integration in education.” “Many ministries of education would invest in digital devices for students and for teachers first, without preparing the school communities, without preparing teachers, training them first, without preparing the students before they are using the technology safely,” she said. Isaacs said AI was spreading faster than earlier classroom technologies because students and teachers could adopt tools privately, often without referring to guidelines. “The only difference is that students and teachers are now using AI privately, independently of any institution or government oversight,” she said. “So, whenever students and teachers have access to connectivity, the internet and large language models, they tend to use them. They’re not first asking if there’s a policy. They’re not first asking if they have permission to use them.” Isaacs said this reality had increased the need for governance that was deliberate and practical, and urged education systems to focus on how AI is used for learning, not simply whether it is used. “We are encouraging very conscious, intentional and deliberate governance by institutions, by ministries of education and the social partners,” Isaacs said. “They’re not always being used in ways that enhance learning, thinking and teaching,” she added. Isaacs said UNESCO’s approach was centered on building the capabilities of teachers and students so that safe, responsible use became possible in everyday school settings. “Well, one of the things that we have done over the last two years is establish a competency framework for students and a dedicated competency framework for teachers,” she said. “At the heart of that lies the cultivation of student agency, the ability to make decisions for themselves, to recognize when AI is harmful, when it is unethical, when it is inaccurate,” Isaacs said. Isaacs said effective governance depended on the participation of the people most affected by AI in classrooms. “Without that, you cannot pass a law without the active participation, engagement, awareness capabilities of the students and the teachers themselves. “We need to claim and reclaim human agency, the agency of students, the agency of teachers, not just as individuals, but also in community, as peers, as communities,” Isaacs said. She said the competency frameworks were released in 2024 and that UNESCO had been working with member states to support localized adoption. “We have engaged 60-plus member states in the localized adoption,” Isaacs said. “We’ve worked, for example, with communities that have reached something like 11,000 students across the world, specifically around cultivating the competencies we’ve identified in the competency framework for students,” she said. On Saudi Arabia, Isaacs said UNESCO had held discussions with the Ministry of Education and was looking to deepen collaboration. “So, we have had engagement with the Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia. What we don’t yet have is any formal endorsement of the competency frameworks.” Isaacs said UNESCO saw the Riyadh discussions as part of broader global efforts to move from principles to implementation and stressed that member states adopt the guidance in different ways. “You know, we’ve got 194 governments that are members of UNESCO. So, it’s not always clear how they can go about adopting these frameworks. So that’s where events like Digital Learning Week are very helpful,” she said. Isaacs said UNESCO’s work also included guidance on curriculum and teaching strategies, including metacognition. “It’s a new concept that we are reintroducing. It’s an old concept, but we’re reintroducing in the age of AI, called metacognition, that it has become such an important skill in the age of AI that we need to learn how to learn, learn how to think, and to be able to reflect on our thinking and monitor our thinking,” she said. She also emphasized that education systems should protect human relationships in learning as AI capabilities expanded. “Perhaps one of the most important capabilities, which we don’t do enough in the current version of the competency framework, is cultivating human connection, the connection between learners and teachers, the connection with children and their parents reconnecting, the fundamental aspects of us being human,” Isaacs said. Isaacs said UNESCO was also addressing practical issues that ministries and schools faced as they adopted AI, including age-appropriateness, safety and procurement. “AI governance, ethics, safety, age appropriateness. How do we procure AI? How do we engage with commercial vendors?” she said. “We are also releasing a series of policy briefs on these AI governance issues,” Isaacs said.