MPs have launched an inquiry into the use of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in education.
The cross-party Education Select Committee will look at how technology can both help and hinder the UK’s education sector – not just in schools, but also in colleges, universities and early years services.
“AI and EdTech are already reshaping education, from the early years and secondary school right through to college and university,” said Helen Hayes, chair of the committee.
“These tools could represent an extraordinary opportunity to elevate learning and streamline teachers’ busy workloads. At the same time, there are risks in deploying rapidly developing technology without any clear values-based decision-making or evaluation framework, and without a full understanding of the consequences, and there is a potential risk of widening inequality between students.”
Educators are already dipping their toes into the tech sphere. For example, at Bett Show 2025, it was announced the government had plans to help teachers use AI for lesson planning and marking, and Ofsted found many schools are experimenting with the use of AI for personalised learning, translation of resources, and turning lessons and other resources into podcasts.
The government has already started looking into the potential uses of AI in schools and other education establishments, including the development of AI tools for 1:1 tutoring, but AI is causing a number of concerns among students and parents alike, with parents changing their career advice to children as a result of widespread AI adoption.
As pointed out by education secretary Bridget Phillipson in early 2026, the government has to “get this right” for the technology to meet its potential as the “biggest boost for education in the last 500 years”.
The Education Select Committee will look into several areas of tech and AI adoption in education, including how it will affect skills,safeguarding issues and how teachers will cope with tech deployment.
Access to technology, AI and digital tech has the potential to widen the diversity divide in the UK, and the committee will consider whether introducing AI risks making this issue worse.
When it comes to tech’s impact on skills, the committee will look into how AI specifically will affect critical thinking, problem solving and speech development.
Teachers have a longstanding issue with tech deployment and teaching tech skills, so how they are supported in implementing tech during teaching, as well as ensuring they can properly use it, will need to be considered. The committee will also explore how tech and AI may change the way assessments are undertaken.
How AI and tech is integrated into each level of education in the UK has the potential to either massively help or catastrophically hinder the UK’s education delivery and skills development.
“Our inquiry will take a hard look at the evidence, and separate AI fact from fiction,” said Hayes. “We will explore how AI and EdTech are already being used and consider how the government can balance its benefits with safeguards against the risks it poses.
“The committee wants to understand how technology is shaping children and young people’s lives and learning, and what more the government needs to do to ensure that every child and young person is able to thrive,” she said. “I encourage anyone with experience in this area to submit evidence to our inquiry.”
