AI in Education AI Minute Newsroom 2026-08-27

More than 25 education ministers will sign a joint statement on AI in schools next month — the line being negotiated is that AI supports teachers, it does not replace them

UNESCO said this week that over 25 ministers of education will adopt a joint ministerial statement on sustaining education as a common good in the age of AI, at its Digital Learning Week in Paris from 8 to 11 September. UNESCO's stated position going in is that the design, deployment and use of AI should be governed 'for and by people in ways that are equitable, inclusive and ethical', and that teachers should use AI 'to support, not replace, their professional contribution and judgement'. The four days are organised around three questions — what counts as a fact when knowledge can be synthesised, what frictions AI is creating inside school systems, and what comes next, from digital sovereignty and public-interest AI to deliberately analogue and community-led approaches. UNESCO expects more than 1,000 people in the room and thousands more online, and registration is open for either. The organisation says it has supported 58 countries on AI competency training so far.

Why it mattersA ministerial statement is not a law and nobody has to obey it. What it does is hand an education minister a sentence to point at when a vendor arrives promising to cut staffing costs — and it hands teachers' unions and parents' groups the same sentence. That is exactly why the wording being negotiated matters: 'support, not replace' is much harder to walk back once 25 governments have signed it than a vague commitment to innovation. If you teach, the online registration is the cheapest way to hear what your own ministry signs up to before it reaches your classroom.

✓ Verified · 2 sources

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More than 25 education ministers will sign a joint statement on AI in schools next month — the line being negotiated is that AI supports teachers, it does not replace them

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