Paul Montague was asked about the issue by Deputy Chris Blin, who wanted to know how schools were preparing youngsters for a future which is expected to be increasingly shaped by AI developments.
‘It is changing the education landscape, particularly to do with exams. We realise now that a lot of universities will not be doing coursework anymore and we need to look at assessment differently,’ said Deputy Montague.
Minutes earlier, in his latest update statement to the Assembly on the work of the Education, Sport & Culture Committee, Deputy Montague had recalled a researchED conference hosted by Guernsey earlier in the year, at which he said AI had been a hot topic addressed by visiting experts.
He said that Guernsey had ‘a very high level of information’ about the challenges being created by AI in education.
‘We need to be really careful, not just for our young people but for ourselves, about how we use AI,’ said Deputy Montague.
‘Whatever does the thinking does the learning. We need to teach young people how to use AI.
‘Our schools are working very hard to make sure students know how to use it.’
He said it was important to understand why some high-attaining schools around the world were starting to move away from the use of screens and returning to ways of learning which encouraged more discussion and debate directly between teachers and students.
‘We have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. We are African primates and we have been designed to be in communication with each other, looking at each other’s faces, understanding visual cues, and being in proximity with and understanding what it is to be a human being, related to other human beings.
‘No matter what screens can do to improve our learning, we must remember that in over-emphasising that, we are losing out on some of the fundamental things it means to be a human being.
‘When we talk about dopamine hits, the interaction you get with your fellow human beings is one of the most rewarding you can get, but it comes at a high price.
‘It’s a much cheaper dopamine hit to be playing Candy Crush or whatever.
‘It’s the same with education. We need to remind ourselves that we are human beings, not machines.’
Deputy Montague claimed that allowing the emphasis to swing too far toward technology had created serious problems that schools were now having to face.
These would only grow if the education sector failed to get to grips with teaching youngsters how to use AI more responsibly.
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