To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) whether his Department has made any assessment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in schools: guidelines and guardrails, published by the Scottish Government on 25 March 2026; and (ii) whether he has plans to introduce similar guidance for Northern Ireland.

My Department is focused on the guidance needed for schools here and has been leading a rigorous process, with a range of educational partners, to develop guidance in respect of the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in which draws on research and practice in other jurisdictions across the United Kingdom and internationally.

Northern Ireland is in a unique position as the Education Authority’s Education Information Solution (EdIS) provides a safe online platform for use by teachers and pupils which ensures that data inside a school’s own ecosystem is not shared publicly. The work being taken forward includes the development of a wide range of online support materials which will be made available on its EdIS GenAI Platform.

A comparison with the guidance produced in Scotland highlights that there are many similarities in terms of the advice it provides to education professionals and the checks and balances required to ensure GenAI is used safely and responsibly in schools. I hope to issue guidance to schools shortly.