Human Judgment Is Essential
In today's rapidly changing job market, a pressing question keeps coming up in staffrooms and SLT meetings:
"Are we preparing children for jobs that won't exist?"
It's not abstract. It's urgent.
The rise of AI and automation is making many traditional roles obsolete. But here's the problem: schools are still teaching for a world that's already disappearing.
We sat down with Matthew Wemyss, an assistant school director, and Betty Johnson, a school improvement partner with over two decades of experience.
Their message was clear: the education system must evolve not slowly, but now.
The Data That Should Stop You
The pace of change is unprecedented.
The industrial revolution took decades.
The digital revolution took years.
The AI revolution? Overnight.
According to recent workforce analysis, millions of jobs will be displaced by AI within the next decade but equally, new roles will emerge that don't even have names yet. The World Economic Forum estimates that 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2027.
Betty Johnson put it bluntly:
The industrial revolution took decades. The digital revolution took years. Now, with AI, changes can happen overnight. We cannot keep teaching the same curriculum from 2014 and expect students to be ready.
The Current Landscape: Outdated and Overloaded
Here's what schools are actually dealing with right now:
Problem | Reality |
|---|---|
Outdated Curriculum | The national curriculum in many regions hasn't been updated since 2014. That's over a decade ago. |
Focus on Performance | Emphasis on standardised testing limits students' ability to think independently and creatively. |
Teacher Workload Crisis | Teachers are overwhelmed. They're being told to "use AI to plan, differentiate, mark, track, and safeguard" — but there's no roadmap, no consensus, and almost no reliable backup. |
Digital Divide | Some staff use AI for lesson planning; others haven't opened a Google Doc. There's no single starting line. |
Matthew Wemyss added:
It's not reluctance or slow adoption.
It's relentless reality. AI isn't rolling out in neat phases.
It's just arrived. And then, as everyone blinks, it's shifted again
The Skills Gap: What Students Actually Need
Here's what the experts say students need to thrive in an AI-driven world:
1. AI Literacy, Not Dependency
Students must learn to collaborate with AI, not outsource their thinking to it.
Rather than relying on AI to complete tasks, students should learn to leverage AI tools, integrating their unique insights to create value."
2. Entrepreneurial Mindset
Encourage students to identify their interests and market needs. Matthew suggests:
Students should be empowered to create their own opportunities potentially even starting businesses while still in school.
3. Interpersonal & Soft Skills
Employers increasingly value what AI cannot replicate: communication, teamwork, adaptability, and empathy. These must be taught through collaborative projects and real-world presentations.
4. Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving
Traditional rote learning doesn't cut it. Students need to analyse, evaluate, and create not just memorise.
The Real Risks Schools Are Facing Right Now
The conversation highlighted several immediate dangers:
Students running ahead of staff in adopting AI and social media, but not understanding what they're using.
Deepfakes, AI chat "friends," algorithm-driven advice these aren't hypotheticals. They're showing up in safeguarding concerns, bullying cases, and workload blow-ups.
Misalignment between tools and needs. A piece of tech built for "education" is often built for an imagined, ideal classroom. The real classroom? A teacher short on time, working with neurodiverse kids, fighting for a quiet second to think.
Betty Johnson observed:
Leaders are treading water. Every tool, every system someone asks, 'Will this actually save time, or is it just another thing we'll be told to use?' Real calm leadership means knowing you can't do everything, so you prioritise sometimes by necessity.
Where the System Falls Short
The current curriculum doesn't encourage critical thinking or creativity key skills for the modern workforce. The national curriculum hasn't been updated since 2014, causing a disconnect between what is taught and what skills are needed.
The result? Students leave school without AI literacy, without entrepreneurial skills, and without the adaptability to navigate an uncertain future.
What Schools Can Do This Term
The experts recommend four immediate shifts:
Emphasise Experiential Learning: Hands-on experiences allow students to apply knowledge in real-world scenarios.
Foster a Growth Mindset: Encourage students to embrace challenges and learn from failures.
Collaborate with Industry: Partnerships between schools and businesses provide insights into current industry needs.
Integrate AI Literacy Across Subjects: Not as a separate "IT" topic, but as a tool within English, science, humanities, and art.
Real Talk, Real Schools, Real SOLUTIONS
Your Next Step: The JONK Workshop
The real shift happens when school leaders move from identifying a priority to building a culture that supports it. That’s where The Joy of Not Knowing (JONK) changes the game.
Developed by Marcelo Staricoff, a Routledge‑author and leading voice in enquiry‑based learning, the JONK philosophy helps you create a Learning to Learn Week, a dedicated termly focus that starts with a leader and a champion, then cascades across the leadership team, and eventually the whole school. It’s a research‑backed methodology proven to build a culture of curiosity, resilience, and deep thinking in any classroom.
👉 Join the first JONK workshop on 15 May 2026
Secure your place now: https://onebigchange.co.uk/
One Big Change
This week, ask your SLT one question:
"What's the one AI-related skill our students will need by the end of this term, that they don't have right now?"
Then pick one small action:
A staff CPD session on AI basics.
A classroom debate on the ethics of deepfakes.
A student-led project exploring how AI might change their dream job.
You don't need to transform everything overnight.
You just need to start the conversation
The real reason schools feel "hard to reach" isn't that they're hard to reach. It's that they're running flat out, usually with one eye on the kids in front of them and the other on a ticking clock.
Betty Johnson said it best:
"We cannot keep teaching the same curriculum from 2014 and expect students to be ready for jobs that don't even exist yet."
Understand what's really happening and everything changes.
Missed the episode?
Let’s keep this important conversation going, share your experiences or thoughts in the comments!
Want to listen further or share ideas with your own school leadership team?
Check out this essential episode of In My Kitchen with Yvonne and join the conversation shaping tomorrow’s education!
Click here to watch the full episode on how to lead a school with mission at the helm.
Yvonne
LocaeRise
Change, handled well.
P.S. Betty Johnson is a school improvement partner with over two decades of experience across primary, secondary, and special education settings. She has led multiple school turnarounds, supported leadership teams through Ofsted, and advised local authorities on curriculum and inclusion strategy. Her focus is on practical, sustainable change not quick fixes.
Matthew Wemyss is an assistant school director with a background in curriculum design, digital strategy, and staff development. He has worked extensively with schools to integrate technology meaningfully, without adding to teacher workload. His approach is grounded in the messy reality of classrooms not the polished promise of a brochure.
Next week: We welcome Carmen Gonzalez Barreda, to talk about The AI Problem No School Is Talking About, AI as a Therapist and what the dangers of this are.
Carmen Gonzalez Barreda is the CEO of the WONDER Foundation, a grassroots organisation dedicated to empowering women and girls globally through education, dignity, and opportunity. Her own journey has been shaped by resilience: from her childhood in Spain as the eldest of nine children to her early days cleaning houses in the UK while studying, it was a childhood lesson from her mother that changed her path.
"When I was about six or seven, I failed an exam and told my mother, 'It’s not fair.' She replied, 'There are so many girls more clever and hardworking than you, but they don’t have the chance to go to school.' That honestly changed me and sparked my lifelong desire to ensure that girls everywhere can access education and dignity."
Under her leadership, WONDER Foundation has grown into a global network supporting over 160,000 women and girls across four continents. Now, she is focusing her expertise on a new frontier: the hidden danger of AI as a therapist and why schools cannot afford to ignore it.