From Pilot to Policy: Embedding AI in the School Development Plan

To ensure AI becomes an embedded, ethical, and effective part of school improvement, leadership must move beyond pilots and towards sustainable, system-wide strategies.

Jun 26, 2025

This post is part of a series exploring how schools can integrate AI meaningfully, ethically and strategically. It offers insights and strategies for educators across all curricula and contexts, from Dubai to Dublin, Delhi to Durban and everywhere in between.

Subscribers get exclusive access to AI readiness audits, editable implementation plans and CPD guidance for school-wide AI strategy.

Why Pilots Are Not Enough

AI initiatives often begin with enthusiasm: a pilot in one department, an AI tool trialled during a PD day, or a group of early adopters experimenting in isolation. These are useful starting points but without formal structures, these efforts risk remaining disconnected, inconsistent or unsustainable. Pilots can prove what’s possible, but policies make it stick.

Embedding AI into the school development plan is not just about technology. It’s about pedagogy, equity, curriculum and change management. It means aligning AI with your school’s core mission and values, ensuring every stakeholder understands the why, not just the how.

To ensure AI integration is not treated as an isolated initiative, it must be woven into your School Development Plan (SDP), either as a standalone priority or threaded across existing goals such as curriculum design, digital citizenship, or staff development. Aligning AI actions with termly review points and line management cycles ensures it stays accountable and embedded.

As regulatory expectations grow, such as ADEK in the UAE or Ofsted’s emphasis on digital preparedness, schools need to demonstrate intentionality, not improvisation. A formalised, whole-school approach protects staff, safeguards students, and supports long-term improvement.

From Experiment to Strategy: The AI Integration Continuum

Before diving into policy and improvement plan writing, it’s important to understand where your school currently sits on the continuum of AI integration. This helps ensure policies are grounded in reality, not aspiration.

Here’s a staged model many schools are using to guide progression:

Stage 1: Exploration

Individual staff exploring AI tools independently
No formal CPD or leadership strategy yet
High curiosity, but low cohesion

Stage 2: Early Adoption

Small teams or departments trying AI in planning or feedback
Initial CPD sessions delivered
School leaders gathering insights and feedback

Stage 3: Coherence

Clear shared language about AI in teaching and learning
Ethical and safeguarding considerations mapped
AI included in CPD, curriculum planning and risk frameworks

Stage 4: Policy and Practice

AI referenced in school development or improvement plans
Internal guidance documents co-created with staff
Evidence of impact on learning, workload, or inclusion

Stage 5: Innovation and Review

Regular review of AI strategy based on student outcomes and staff voice
AI linked to wider digital strategy and professional development cycles
Student voice and parent engagement included in governance

Some UK and UAE schools, for example, have included AI within their five-year innovation plans or created AI guidance documents that evolve each term. Others have formed staff working groups to review emerging tools, risks, and curriculum links on a termly basis.

Next Steps for Leadership Teams

If your school is looking to move from pilot to policy, here are realistic next steps many leadership teams are already taking, not to bolt AI on, but to embed it ethically and sustainably across the whole school.

Audit current practice – Map where AI is currently being used and by whom. What’s working? What risks are emerging? What gaps need attention?
Co-create a shared vision – Collaborate with staff, students and parents to articulate why AI matters in your school context. Link it clearly to your curriculum intent.
Set phased goals – Create short-term, medium-term and long-term objectives for AI use. For example, term 1 might focus on staff confidence, term 2 on safeguarding alignment.
Write guidance collaboratively – Don’t outsource policy. Work with classroom teachers, middle leaders and IT leads to shape realistic, usable documentation.
Include student voice – Survey students on how they use AI in and out of school. Use this insight to inform boundaries, opportunities and wellbeing considerations.
Link to existing priorities – Tie AI goals to your current development areas: whether it’s assessment, teachign and learning, staff development, wellbeing, feedback or workload.
Review regularly – Build in time for reflection, adjustment and evaluation. Make AI policy a living document, not a one-off statement.

Like any development priority, AI initiatives should be evaluated through lesson observations, student work scrutiny, stakeholder voice and digital monitoring tools.

What Schools Must Have in Place

Embedding AI in policy and development plans is not about perfection, it’s about clarity, alignment and integrity. Schools that are doing this well typically ensure several foundational pillars are in place before they scale or mandate AI use across staff and students.

Clear intent – Leadership can articulate why AI supports the school’s mission, not just tech trends.
Staff support – CPD, peer collaboration and coaching are available for teachers at all comfort levels.
Ethical safeguards – Policies cover bias, hallucinations, privacy and overreliance, with practical classroom examples.
Curriculum alignment – AI tools and strategies are explicitly mapped to subject planning and learning outcomes.
Student and parent engagement – Families understand how AI is used in school and what the expectations are.
Governance inclusion – AI is discussed at leadership and board levels, with a plan for monitoring and accountability.

A Comprehensive Guide to Developing a Whole-School AI Strategy – National College
A practical planning guide for school leaders ready to align AI with broader teaching and learning priorities.
Artificial Intelligence in Schools: Everything You Need to Know – Education Hub UK
The latest UK government-backed overview of AI expectations in schools, including safety, equity, and curriculum advice.

Reflective Questions

Where is your school currently on the AI integration continuum?
How are you capturing staff and student voice about AI use?
What policies already exist that AI could be aligned with and which ones need updating?
Is your school ready to move from experimentation to sustainable innovation?

The End of the Series

This post marks the end of our four-week journey exploring AI in education, from classroom practice to leadership strategy, inclusion to innovation. Thank you for reading, sharing, and thinking alongside each post. Your engagement has helped shape an ongoing conversation about how we can use AI meaningfully, ethically and professionally in schools. While the series may be complete, the work is just beginning and I look forward to continuing this dialogue with you in the months ahead.

AI in Education Blog Series

This 4-week series explores how schools can embed AI meaningfully, ethically and strategically across curriculum, CPD, leadership and inclusion. New posts are published four times a week throughout June and July 2025.

Week 1: Orientation – Understanding the Shift

Week 2: Teaching, Equity and Ethics

5. Planning with AI Without Losing Professional Judgement

6. Can We Really Teach Ethics in AI? Yes, Here’s How

7. What Inclusive AI Use Looks Like in EAL and SEND Contexts

8. Keeping Students Safe: The New Rules of AI and Safeguarding

Week 3: Teaching Across Subjects

9. Reimagining Reading and Writing: AI in English and Language of Instruction

10. AI in Math and Science: From Calculation to Simulation

11. What Happens to Critical Thinking When AI Can Summarise?

12. Creativity and Authenticity in the Age of AI

Week 4: Strategy, Assessment and Future Readiness