Exclusive:Artificial intelligence: Scots pupils will be 'harmed' unless SNP Government takes action on AI in schools

The new rector of one of the country’s highest performing fee-paying schools said she had grave concerns about the “nervousness” of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) when it comes to AI in education.

Antonia Berry, who is newly installed as rector of the High School of Glasgow, said she feared that a generation of young people would be harmed by institutional inaction on the subject.

“The key figures in education are too nervous to take a definitive stand on on the topic, because it is difficult and complicated, so you risk having a situation develop here that I think developed with social media,” she said.

“We didn't get ahead of the game, we didn't understand the dangers and risks. We didn't take control of unfettered access and, as a result, we have a generation of young people that have been damaged.

“We’re starting to have to untangle that mess and I worry that if we don't take a pro-active approach to AI, and we don't take a stance that advocates for explicit teaching of AI and ethical use of AI, then we're going to end up with something very similar happening.”

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Mrs Berry said she was deeply concerned to attend a recent presentation by Donna Stewart, the new chief examiner of the SQA, about the changes due to take place when the exams body becomes Qualifications Scotland.

“I was actually quite alarmed - by the fact that AI wasn't mentioned,” she said.

“They have been made aware of the issues around AI. But I think they are nervous about taking any definitive steps, yet AI should be driving the decisions about future qualifications.”

The recent Hayward review of education, Mrs Berry claimed, was already out of date, having been commissioned when AI was in its infancy.

“Now AI has exploded,” she said. “I almost think that Hayward has to be torn up and the exercise needs to begin again.”

READ MORE: Scottish teachers call for overhaul of school assessments due to growing use of AI

Mrs Berry said it was unrealistic to ask young people not to use AI in the coursework component of exams, particularly given how embedded the technology is across the internet and search engines.

She said those in charge of the education system were “sticking their heads in the sand” and this would have a devastating long-term effect on both young people and education.

Mrs Berry said her school would like to be “far more innovative” in the use and teaching of AI, but was restricted by the position of the SQA.

“We can fiddle with things at the fringes, but we can't really develop the core of the curriculum, because it's dictated by the qualifications that young people have to sit at the end of those courses,” she said.

Fairview International School in Bridge of Allan is the only school in Scotland that offers the through programme International Baccalaureate (IB), running three IB programmes from age five to 18.

By contrast, deputy headteacher Jane Barrowcliff said the school was more able to embed AI in the curriculum because it was not bound by the restrictions of SQA qualifications.

The school teaches young people to see AI as “a partner, not a shortcut”.

She said: “We want them to use these platforms to refine their understanding, so we would see AI best as a thinking partner, essentially a co-pilot in the thinking process, not a shortcut to the answer.”

AI is used in the school as almost a personal tutor that can give feedback on students’ own work in real time.

Much work is being done on teaching pupils academic integrity and giving them the tools to spot bias and critically evaluate the information provided by AI,” Ms Barrowcliff said.

“It's having those sceptical literacy skills that are a core responsibility of being a 21st-century education system that's preparing 21st-century learners.”

An SQA spokesperson said the organisation had already outlined acceptable use of AI in its assessments for 2025/26.

“We do not have the responsibility or authority to say how AI should or should not be used in learning and teaching contexts, or within the wider curriculum,” the spokesperson said.

"We're working closely with national partners across Scotland’s education community and are closely monitoring AI's rapid development and use in educational settings.”

While the use of AI in assessment will be constantly reviewed, the spokesperson added, existing guidelines would stay in place for at least this year.

“Our guidance on the use of AI in our assessments will be reviewed regularly and updated as necessary, with the current stance remaining in place for at least the 2025-26 academic year,” the spokesperson said.

A focus group study for the SQA, involving 16 school teachers, nine college lecturers and eight other education practitioners, earlier this year said assessments in Scottish schools and colleges needed to be completely overhauled to deal with AI.

Several participants called for a review of what assessments are ultimately aiming to achieve, suggesting that in future they should be more focussed on demonstrating “higher order thinking skills”.

The SQA continues to discourage the use of referencing GenAI outputs, saying they cannot be regarded as a reliable source of information. However, the majority of focus group participants were of the view the SQA needed to acknowledge when and how GenAI could be used to support the learning process.

The Scotsman separately revealed in March that Scottish universities caught their students using AI to cheat in assessments in more than 1,000 academic misconduct cases in the 2023/24 academic year.