Mearns Castle High School in East Renfrewshire is believed to be the first school in the UK to appoint a principal teacher whose job is devoted entirely to AI literacy. The post has gone to Jamie Laycock, a former principal teacher of biology, who will help pupils and staff weigh the benefits of artificial intelligence against its risks.
The aim is to teach pupils to question AI rather than to promote it. In an early lesson, classes were shown a mix of genuine and AI-generated pictures and asked to pick out the fakes, a task many found harder than they expected. Laycock also covers so-called hallucinations, where a chatbot confidently presents invented information, and warns that pupils without solid foundational knowledge can struggle to tell the difference. Other topics include the habit of treating chatbots as trusted friends, the tendency of AI to flatter users and agree with them, and the biases it picks up from its training data. “It has human-like qualities but actually this is just a machine,” he said.
All pupils in S1 and S2 will receive AI literacy lessons, while older year groups will cover the subject in citizenship and personal education classes, and senior pupils can take an elective course. Laycock will also train colleagues and produce teaching materials that other schools can use. Many UK schools already have AI leads who take on the work alongside their main teaching duties, but a dedicated role is thought to be a first. The school created it after parents and pupils asked how AI might affect future careers, and several S6 pupils have volunteered to help shape the lessons.
Head teacher Stuart Clark said the school wants to avoid repeating the mistakes society made when young people took up social media without being taught its implications. He stressed that “acting on AI is not the same thing as advocating for it”. Among the volunteers is 17-year-old Tomo, who had planned a career as a trader and now wonders whether AI will reshape that profession before he graduates.
The appointment follows a University of Edinburgh report published earlier this year, which found Scottish schools had lacked the time and capacity to prepare for the rapid growth of AI. The Scottish government issued national guidance on AI in education in March, stressing ethical use and warning against over-reliance. Education Secretary Màiri McAllan said it was encouraging to see schools and councils exploring how to support AI literacy, and that ministers would keep the guidance under continual review as the technology develops.
