I’d been asked to look at digital provision across a group of schools. They had plenty of technology and that was part of the problem.

Schools were paying for platforms staff weren’t using. Different systems were doing the same jobs. Policies had been written at different times, by different people, and no longer reflected what was actually happening in classrooms. Staff confidence varied enormously. Buying something else would have been the easy answer, so I didn’t.

I started with what the schools already had. I spoke to the people actually using it, looked at where the money was going and worked out what was useful, what was being duplicated and what nobody would miss if it disappeared.

Across the 30-school MAT network, I developed governance frameworks to replace outdated policies. We looked at how technology was being introduced and who was responsible for the decisions around it. I worked with staff rather than simply handing them another document to read, and built CPD around what they actually needed to be able to do. The result was less wasted spending, better governance and hundreds of teachers trained to use technology with greater confidence.

That has happened repeatedly throughout my consultancy work. I get brought in to solve one problem and once I’ve solved it, somebody says, “While you’re here, could you have a look at this?” Much of my work now comes from referrals. People I’ve worked with recommend me to other people. For a consultant, I can’t think of a much better endorsement.

I founded Meta Pedagogy in 2025 because I could see schools beginning to repeat some very familiar mistakes with AI, and the stakes are considerably higher this time. AI tools are already being used by teachers and students. Staff are putting information into them, using them to create resources, support marking, plan lessons and reduce workload. In many schools, that has happened faster than the policies, safeguarding, data protection, procurement and staff training needed to govern it.

My job isn’t to persuade a school to use AI. It’s to help leaders work out what to do with the AI use that’s already happening. What are staff already doing? What data are they putting into these tools? Which tools have been approved? What problem is the school trying to solve? Is AI even the right answer? I’m quite happy when the answer to that last question is no. I’ve seen too much money spent on technology nobody uses to recommend something simply because it contains AI.

When I work with a school or trust, I start with the problem. Then I help leaders work out where AI genuinely has value, what shouldn’t be happening, what needs governing and how staff need to be supported. That can mean strategy, safeguarding, governance, procurement, staff development, implementation or all of them.

That’s my specialist work and it’s the work I most enjoy. But it isn’t all I’m asked to do. The wider work I’ve done in schools grew largely because people who had already worked with me trusted me with another problem, so those services still sit within Meta Pedagogy. Not because I’m a specialist in “all kinds of general maintenance”, but because schools asked me back.

I’ve spent more than 20 years in UK secondary education as a teacher, department lead and consultant, including working across Multi-Academy Trusts. So when I look at an AI strategy, I’m not interested only in whether it works on paper. I want to know what happens when 80 teachers have to follow it.

My book, The AI-Ready School: A Guide for Leaders, is forthcoming from Sage/Corwin.

I also deliver keynotes, panel sessions, workshops and breakout sessions at UK education conferences.