Digital literacy is no longer enough.

Access is not the barrier anymore, guidance is. Students know how to use AI. What they don’t know is how to question it, evaluate it, and shape it responsibly. That is the difference between literacy and fluency.

At EDNAS, we believe the future of education depends on building fluency, not just literacy.

When I asked Key Stage 2 pupils “What is AI?”, most had no idea. Yet AI already shapes their daily lives. If we don’t teach AI literacy in primary schools now, we risk raising a generation who can use AI tools but cannot truly understand them.

AI has moved from hidden infrastructure to a tool in everyone’s hands, reshaping classrooms as profoundly as workplaces. With 86% of students already using AI and most teachers experimenting with it, the challenge is no longer adoption, it’s clarity, confidence, and critical thinking. Education systems must ensure that AI empowers learners to question and create, not just consume.

A new academic year is here, but while industries adapt to technology in weeks and months, schools often take years.

This isn’t just an operational challenge, it’s a moral one. As AI and other emerging tools reshape the future, we can’t afford to let innovation sit on the “when we have time” shelf.

Too often, schools treat AI as something to sprinkle across lessons, hoping pupils will "pick it up" along the way. But just like with reading and writing, AI needs structured, explicit teaching.

If you’re a school leader, teacher, or curriculum designer, this one’s for you. It’s time for a serious rethink.

As schools race to embrace the latest technologies, a quiet paradox is emerging: the best use of AI might not be about automation, but restoration. In this piece, I explore how AI could free teachers to focus on what really matters, relationships, and why the next great divide in education may not be digital, but relational.

Celebrating a few early adopters isn’t enough. True impact comes when every teacher feels confident using the tools of tomorrow. For school leaders, the real work isn’t choosing software, it’s building strategy, culture, and system-wide confidence.