As always the key benefit of the event is the networking which is provides with so many great people to meet up with and share ideas with.  

The Digital Futures Group, including Gemma Gwilliam, Emma Darcey, James Garnett, Jonny Wathen and Abid Patel were all in attendance, and with Abid bringing a Bru, albeit the wrong one.  

Additionally I met up with Osi Ejiofor and Georgina Dean and Nicola Pondsford.    Some of the ISC Digital Advisory Group were around including the chair, David Horton, and Neelam Parmar as well.    And the event is never complete without the ANMEs presence, the stand complete with the ambassadors avatars, myself included, and a chance to chat with Rick Cowell, Jase Caul and Terry Dignam.      I am so thankfully for such a wonderful group of people who are so keen to share their thoughts and wisdom.   Every time I meet up with these people I come away feeling more optimistic as to EdTech in schools, plus more developed in my thinking. The smartest person in the room is the room, so I am gratefully to be in the same room as all these great people.

So this years event had a fair amount of Gemma keeping me on the straight and narrow, including guiding me through Birmingham airport buildings to our chosen hotel, where I suspect had I been doing this on my own I would have got badly lost. My geographical and directional skills are not very reliable and I am convinced the Google Maps app is bent on sending me in the wrong direction.

As I write this blog, and seek to share some thoughts, I must note my Schools and Academies badge as supplied by Rick and ANME.    The notable thing about it was that it didn’t list me as a visitor, a speaker (I wasn’t speaking) but as “Press”.    Now sadly I suspect this was an administrative error rather than this blog now reaching sufficient people that I can now be considered a member of the associated press.    But who knows what the future holds   Maybe next year I need to walk around with a microphone and see what reaction that gets?

So what were my main takeaways from the event?     As mentioned above I think a key takeaway of this and other conferences and events is simply the need to network and share.  Technology moves fast, and all schools differ in context so no-one in schools is in a position to resolve the resultant challenges on their own, so our best chance is simply to approach the problems and challenges collectively, to share and work together.    The ANME, the ISC Digital Advisory Group and the Digital Futures Group (DFG) are all key to me in this, plus events like the schools and academic show provide opportunities to meet further people.

A second take away relates to AI.   This continues to be a hot topic in educational circles but I sometimes feel this is a small number of individuals and schools rather than the masses.   AI has such potential but we need to be pragmatic about it and how we encourage people to try and to experiment but to be safe.    To this end I liked Chris Goodalls presentation where we talked about the low barrier to entry in relation to staff using AI;   It is simply about getting people trying it, typing in the text box and submitting their prompt.    He also pointed to the possibly unnecessary language used making AI sound difficult, such as “prompt engineering”;   If we look at generative AI as a chat bot and as involving a dialogue, then isn’t it something that everyone can do, assuming we can simply convince them to give it a try.   And as to remaining safe, we proposed the need for a DBS, or the need to consider Data privacy, Bias and Safety;   Such a simple acronym.

My third take away related to strategy and a few discussions on AI.   AI may be great thing to consider and maybe something which is a hot topic, but you cant experiment with AI without infrastructure, bandwidth, devices, training and more.    There needs to be a plan, a strategy, and only once you have this and seek to implement it can you then potentially look at using AI.     Related to this I also had a number of discussions on digital divides where the existence of a strategy, the availability of reliable infrastructure, and of client devices for staff and students, plus now, engagement in AI, all represent different divides which can impact on schools, teachers and students.  

Now I was only going to list three takeaways but as I sit on this train there was one other takeaway I need to share and it came from the drinks reception which occurred prior to the SAAS event.    Schools and teachers now have such a list of things that need to be done, so many compliance and other required tasks which are done because we have to.   I have commented on this in the past.    But what about doing the things we want, or even love to do?    Don’t we want teachers that love to teach, and student that as a result love to come to school and engage.    Is the increasing requirements, tasks, compliance and workload eroding the love for teaching and love for learning?   I suspect it is but how can we redress this balance.    This isn’t an easy question, and relates to some of my previous posts on focussing on what matters.   I suspect this will continue to grow as something which schools, school leaders, governments, inspection regimes and other education related organisations need to stop and think about, and hopefully sooner rather than later.

So that’s the Schools and Academic 2024, Birmingham show finished for another year.   The next significant event on the calendar is BETT and I must say, after last year I am so looking forward to it.   I will note that I didn’t do a great job of planning my visit to the schools and academies show, so this is something I will need to make sure and correct for BETT.   And also, maybe this year I may finally heed the common advice regarding comfy shoes.   Or maybe Ill rock up in a suit as normal!