New EU research: How are schools really using generative AI?

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre has just published important findings from their study of GenAI adoption across secondary schools in five EU Member States.

Key insights from early adopters:

- Students are using GenAI more intensively than their teachers - often as a personal learning assistant for practice, feedback and exam preparation

- Educators see genuine potential for enhancing teaching, but highlight critical gaps in training, guidance and policy support

- Assessment practices are being fundamentally challenged - prompting calls for process-based evaluation that values the learning journey, not just outputs

- The human element remains essential: students themselves emphasised the irreplaceable value of teacher interaction and personal feedback

What's needed according to this research:

- Comprehensive AI literacy development for educators and students

- Clear guidance and policies at institutional and national levels

- Subject-specific approaches (implications differ across humanities and STEM)

- Addressing the digital divide to ensure equitable access

- Ongoing professional development that goes beyond technical skills to ethical practice

This research strongly reinforces what we're working towards with the AI in Education Certification - a structured, educator-led framework that addresses AI Literacy, Policies & Ethics, Tools & Systems, Digital Pedagogy and Collaboration across all stakeholder groups.

The report notes: "GenAI has the potential to enhance teaching and learning, but its effective and safe adoption in education is highly dependent on educators' AI literacy."

We couldn't agree more.

Full report: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/8636621

What are you seeing in your school's approach to GenAI? We'd love to hear from educators navigating this landscape.