Page 24 - Education Supplement August 2025

THE OTHER BRAIN IN THE ROOM

What AI can’t teach — and what it’s

finally beginning to understand

Education Feature | Real Learning, Real Children, Real Tools

here’s no shortage of headlines Not the ideal child — the real one
promising that AI will transform The one who freezes during a test even though they knew the work at dinner
Teducation. Most of them are last night. The one who avoids eye contact when they’re overwhelmed, or
written from a distance — from repeats the same question in different ways because they’re anxious to
the viewpoint of the system, not get it right. The one who gets labelled inconsistent, distracted, too slow, too
the learner. The language is big: sensitive — when really, they’re just learning in a way the system doesn’t
revolution, scale, disruption. But what’s recognise.
often missing is the small, specific
truth of what it’s actually like to help a If AI is going to be useful in education, it has to work here. With this child. In
real child learn. this moment. Otherwise, it’s just noise.

Education | August 2025 | 22