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Education Minister Norma Foley in London to meet British secretary of state for education

Education Minister Norma Foley in London to meet British secretary of state for education

Series of meetings will involve discussions on generative artificial intelligence and smartphones use among children and education reform

Education Minister Norma Foley is in London today (Thursday) to meet British secretary of state for education Gillian Keegan

They are due to discuss a range of topics in education, including the opportunities and challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence and the benefits in restricting smartphone usage among children.

Minister Foley recently published guidelines aimed at helping parents to agree voluntarily not to buy their children smartphones while in primary school.

Secretary of State Keegan has announced plans to issue guidelines to schools in England to control the use of smartphones there during the school day.

Minister Foley is due to meet Mary Richardson, Professor of Educational Assessment at University College London's Institute of Education, to discuss the use of generative artificial intelligence in education.

She is due to meet Professor Qing Gu, Professor Louise Stoll and Associate Professor Greg Ross at University College London's Institute of Education to discuss school leadership and systemic change.

Minister Foley said:

“I am looking forward to my meeting with British secretary of state for education Gillian Keegan and a range of education experts to discuss matters of common interest in our education systems.

“There are potential benefits and risks in using generative artificial intelligence in education so it is important to get a wide range of perspectives on this issue and others.”

Note to editors:

Gillian Keegan was appointed Secretary of State for Education on 25 October 2022.

She was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Africa) at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office from 7 September 2022 to 25 October 2022.