Singapore summit urges pedagogy-first AI

Education in Motion said its Education Advisory Board held its first AI-in-education summit in Singapore on April 27 and 28. The meeting took place at Dulwich College Singapore. (eimglobal.com) The group said the summit was part of a three-day program that also included the board’s first in-person meeting and EiM’s annual Blue-Sky Conference for heads of school. EiM said the gathering was meant to help school leaders make decisions on artificial intelligence with “rigour and confidence.” (eimglobal.com) EiM said about 40 education experts attended, including school heads from its global network, central education staff and teacher representatives from each school. Participants also included former Yale president Richard Levin, former Oxford vice chancellor and former New York University president Andrew Hamilton, former Rice president David Leebron and University College London professor emerita Rose Luckin. (eimglobal.com 1) (eimglobal.com 2) Luckin led a half-day workshop on how large language models work in schools and what their use could mean for adoption decisions. EiM said its approach puts students at the center and places technology “in the service of pedagogy.” (eimglobal.com) That phrase points to a basic fight in school AI policy: whether schools buy tools because they are new, or because they improve teaching and learning. GovTech’s Tim Dasey wrote this week that the next school year should be about whether students “actually experienc[e] something better” from adults’ AI planning. (govtech.com) Singapore’s own education system has been moving in the same direction. The Ministry of Education says its AI-in-education policy stresses responsible, age-appropriate use and is guided by four principles: agency, inclusivity, fairness and safety. (moe.gov.sg) The ministry says it delivers AI tools with built-in guardrails through the Singapore Student Learning Space, the national online teaching platform. Those tools include lesson-planning support for teachers, data analysis for student responses, and automated feedback systems in subjects including mathematics and short-answer writing. (moe.gov.sg) EiM’s summit also followed the launch of its advisory board in September 2025. At that launch, EiM said the board would convene its first summit in Singapore during the academic year. (prnewswire.com) The immediate result is not a new product or rule. It is a public line from one international school group and its advisers that AI decisions should be tied to evidence, student outcomes and school leaders’ judgment, not vendor claims alone. (eimglobal.com) (govtech.com)