Past the novelty: what educators are really asking of AI in schools

Walk into any staffroom this term and you will hear AI mentioned more than ever. What you will hear less of, increasingly, is wide-eyed excitement. Teachers and leaders have moved past the question of whether AI belongs in schools. They are asking harder, more practical questions. Is it secure? Does it actually work? Will it help my staff, or simply give them another thing to learn?

The latest Bett UK Education Priorities Report, drawn from more than 17,500 educators and decision-makers, puts numbers behind that shift. It is worth reading as buyer sentiment rather than hard research, since it reflects the priorities of people who chose to attend a technology show. But the direction it describes matches what many of us are seeing on the ground.

AI is the conversation, but the tone has

changed

Sixty per cent of attendees named AI as a top priority, comfortably ahead of every other concern. What matters is not the headline figure but the mood beneath it. The report describes educators weighing governance, safeguarding and implementation alongside the opportunity. This is the conversation maturing. The early adopters have had their fun. The wider profession now wants AI that is responsible, secure and genuinely useful.

Capability, not novelty

The finding that stood out most to me concerns staff development. In the UK, staff capability and digital development was a priority for 28 per cent of attendees, twice the international figure of 14 per cent. UK schools are not short of tools. They are short of confident, well-supported staff who can use them well.

This is the heart of the matter. Too much technology adds to a teacher's load before it ever lifts it. The schools getting real value are the ones investing in their people first.

It is also where we have built Starlight. Starlight is not another platform for teachers to master. It develops teachers through the work they already do. A teacher records a lesson, and within minutes receives a private, structured coaching report grounded in the actual transcript: strengths evidenced in their own words, a small number of high-leverage next steps, and prompts to reflect. No grading, no compulsory scoring. The professional learning happens inside the everyday lesson, not in a separate course bolted onto an already full week.

Evidence is becoming the price of entry

Around a quarter of attendees pointed to measurable impact and implementation success as decisive when choosing technology. Higher Education led on this, but the signal runs across the sector. Schools are tired of promises. They want proof.

I welcome that, even though it raises the bar for everyone, ourselves included. A coaching platform should be able to show that it changes practice, not merely claim it. It is a discipline we hold to: test value in real schools before scaling, and let the evidence lead the pitch.

Trust is the buying trigger

Data and cybersecurity was a stronger concern in the UK than internationally, and notably high among Multi-Academy Trusts at 42 per cent. For any platform that records lessons, this can never be an afterthought.

It is foundational to how Starlight is built. Teacher reports are private by default. Leadership sees only anonymised, aggregated trends to shape CPD strategy, never individual surveillance. Teachers retain control over their own audio. Coaching, not compliance. Insight, not surveillance. Growth, not grading. These are not lines we reach for in a sales call. They are the architecture.

Where this leaves us

The report's message to suppliers is clear enough. The market is consolidating around AI readiness, measurable impact, staff capability and secure implementation. The novelty era is closing.

For schools, the more useful message is this. The right question is no longer what AI can do, but what we want it to do for our people. Used well, AI can give every teacher access to the kind of frequent, specific, supportive coaching that was previously impossible to provide at scale. That is the opportunity worth pursuing, and it is the one we are building towards.

Here's the Bett 2026 Education Priorities Report

If you'd like to see what a Starlight report looks like for a lesson in your own school, you can book a demo at https://starlightmentor.com/demo-request.

Spark Insight with Starlight, and grow every teacher through the lessons they already teach.

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The Insight Engine is written by Adam Sturdee, co-founder of Starlight, the UK’s first AI-powered coaching platform, and a senior leader with responsibility for teaching, learning and coaching. This blog is part of a wider mission to support educators through meaningful reflection, not performance metrics. It documents the journey of building Starlight from the ground up, and explores how AI, when shaped with care, can reduce workload, surface insight, and help teachers think more deeply about their practice. Rooted in the belief that growth should be private, professional, and purposeful, The Insight Engine offers ideas and stories that put insight—not judgment—at the centre of development.

🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-sturdee-b0695b35a/