07 Sep 2026
One thing we are thinking about a lot as we build 42 Questions is where AI can genuinely help school staff, and where human judgement needs to remain firmly at the core.
Much of our focus for AI use comes back to time. School staff spend a huge amount of time on admin and managing information, so anything that can reduce some of that work has the potential to be useful.
But the more we speak to schools, the clearer it becomes that saving time cannot be the only consideration.
In our conversations with schools in England, we have spoken to several SENCOs about EHCPs, reports and other documents relating to individual pupils. One thing that has come up more than once is some caution around AI simply generating those documents for them.
A SENCO knows the pupil behind the document. They know their history and the context around what is written, as well as what might need more explanation. They have also spoken to teachers, families and others supporting the child, and all of that informs how they write about the pupil.
One SENCO said that asking AI to generate this kind of writing could risk doing the pupil a disservice, and that has really stuck with me.
It is easy to look at something like an EHCP or a report and see a time-consuming document that could potentially be produced more quickly. But the value of that document does not just come from the information it contains. It also comes from the judgement involved in deciding what needs to go into it.
That does not mean we should not be using AI here. There are parts of the process where it can help, whether that is inputting set data or taking away some of the repetitive admin around a task. If that gives staff more time to focus on the pupil and the parts of the work that genuinely need their expertise, then that is valuable.
The bit we need to get right is the difference between helping someone do their job and replacing the judgement that the job depends on. It is something we are thinking about carefully and continuously as we build 42 Questions with schools.
It is also why feedback from schools matters so much. Something can look like an obvious time saver from the outside, but if the people doing the work feel that their knowledge is being taken out of the process or that it distances them from the pupil, then it is not doing the right job.
As AI gets better, more of these processes will probably become possible to automate, but that does not automatically make it the right choice. We are finding it more useful to ask whether the technology is genuinely helping the person doing the work, or whether it starts to take something important away.
For us, the pupil has to remain the priority. If AI can reduce some of the repetitive work and give staff more time to focus on them, that is worth exploring. But not if it comes at the expense of the knowledge and experience of the people supporting that pupil.
Author: Cat Thorogood
