Someone asks you, “How ready is our school for AI, and how do we compare?” You have a policy and a handful of tools, but no measured answer.
Perhaps you have put quite a lot of work into this already. Staff have had training. A few colleagues are experimenting, and somebody has taken responsibility for keeping the policy up to date. You can explain what you have done. Judging whether it is enough is harder.
We hear this uncertainty in our conversations with heads and principals. They want to know where they stand. They also have a school to run, and every hour spent working out what to do about AI is an hour unavailable for something else.
There ought to be a better way of answering the question.
How much do you know about the AI already in use?
Consider the gap in the National Education Union’s 2026 survey. Among responding teachers in English state schools, 76% said they used AI for their work. Almost half, 49%, reported that their school had no AI policy for staff or students.
Researchers at RAND found a similar problem in the United States. In 2025, 53% of English, maths and science teachers said they used AI for school, while only 45% of principals reported having school or district policies or guidance.
For a leader, those findings raise an uncomfortable possibility: quite a lot may be happening without you having much of a view of it.
A policy is an obvious place to start. But its existence cannot tell you whether a teacher knows what information they can put into a chatbot, or whether a new tool is making a useful difference in lessons. You have to look at what happens after the document is approved.
Ofsted takes a fairly practical position on this in England. It does not require schools to use AI. It also says it does not yet have the evidence to define good use for inspection. Where AI matters to an inspection, leaders may be asked about their decisions, the risks they considered and how they have looked after pupils’ interests.
You can see why those questions matter. If a school has introduced a tool, someone should be able to explain the reason for choosing it and what has been checked since.
The difficulty comes when you try to assess the whole school. Confident staff can coexist with weak checks on pupil data. Careful safeguards can sit alongside teachers who are so uncertain about the rules that they avoid using anything. Looking at one part can give you a misleading impression of the rest.
Find out where your school actually stands
We founded Benchpoint to help leaders get a clearer view.
Between us, we have advised governments and schools, mentored education leaders and helped schools work through decisions about AI. Our experience also includes Paddy’s work leading education for a global accessibility company, where AI helps students overcome barriers to learning.
We have drawn on that work to build ReadyAI Index by Benchpoint, our first product. Benchpoint provides independent benchmarks and insights on AI use; ReadyAI Index applies that work to schools.
The assessment covers nine domains, grouped into three pillars. Direction looks at leadership, strategy and governance. Practice covers teaching and learning, staff capability, and innovation and evidence. Safeguards examines safety and risk, digital infrastructure, and inclusion and access.
That breadth matters. A school deserves credit for the things it does well, but leaders also need to see the gaps that are easy to miss when attention is concentrated on a few successful projects.
We apply the same framework to a school in Dubai, Madrid or Manchester. Common criteria provide the basis for comparison, giving leaders a way to judge their position alongside similar schools.
Three priorities you can act on
The process begins with the policies and records your school already holds and a leadership assessment. You receive a readiness score out of 100, along with a picture of your strengths and gaps across the nine domains.
Then comes the question we would want answered if we were making these decisions: what should we tackle first?
The report identifies three priorities and explains what evidence would show that each has been completed. That gives the next leadership discussion somewhere useful to begin. You can decide who needs to be involved, what time to set aside and how you will know the work is done.
A score also needs to be trustworthy. Ours follows defined rules, and no partner, sponsor or supplier can change it.
Give your board an answer you can stand behind
We can imagine the reaction to another assessment. Where, exactly, is this supposed to fit into the week?
It has to earn the time it takes. If you are choosing what to cover in the next staff session, or deciding whether a trial is ready to expand, knowing where the weaknesses are should help you spend your time and budget more sensibly.
The report includes a one page summary for your board. That gives governors or trustees something specific to discuss with you, and it gives you a record to return to. Six months later, you can look at what has changed against the same criteria.
You may discover that your school has made more progress than you thought. You may find something that needs urgent attention. Either is more useful than having to guess.
Start today. Join us on 17 November.
Today we have opened the free Proof Gap Check. It takes around five minutes to explore the distance between what your school says it does and what it could demonstrate. It is an initial check based on your own responses.
Applications for the full ReadyAI Index have launched today. The 50 founding schools will be invited to take part when the index launches on 17 November 2026. Each will have its evidence reviewed by a person. Applications close on 8 December 2026, with a founding price available for this first group.
We would also love you to join us both, Dan Fitzpatrick and Paddy McGrath, for our launch webinar on 17 November.
You should not have to wait for a difficult board meeting or a worried parent to find out what you can say with confidence about AI in your school. Start with the question now: how ready are we, and how do we compare?
About the authors
Find out what your school can demonstrate about AI readiness.
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