Scottish School Appoints First AI Literacy Teacher to Teach Pupils to Question the Technology

A secondary school in East Renfrewshire has become what is believed to be the first in the UK to create a dedicated teaching post focused solely on artificial intelligence literacy, as educators grapple with how to prepare young people for a world increasingly shaped by AI tools.

Mearns Castle High School has appointed Jamie Laycock, formerly a principal teacher of biology, to the newly created role of principal teacher of AI literacy. The position is thought to be the first of its kind in the country, distinguishing it from the more common arrangement in which an existing member of staff takes on responsibility for AI alongside their regular teaching duties.

The appointment reflects a deliberate decision by school leaders that ignoring the presence of AI in young people's lives is no longer a viable strategy. The guiding principle behind the role, according to those involved, is that society cannot simply wait for the technology to disappear or hope that pupils will navigate it without guidance.

Laycock's approach is notably measured rather than promotional. He does not advocate for AI, nor does he condemn it. Instead, his central mission is to equip pupils with the skills to interrogate, challenge and use the technology responsibly — recognising both its potential benefits and its significant pitfalls.

In one of his first lessons, pupils were presented with a mixture of genuine photographs and AI-generated images and asked to identify which were fake. The exercise proved considerably more difficult than many students anticipated, underscoring how rapidly deepfake technology has advanced and how challenging visual verification has become.

Beyond spotting fabricated images, the curriculum addresses a range of AI-related risks. One key concept Laycock teaches is "hallucination" — the phenomenon in which an AI system confidently presents information it has invented. He has questioned whether the term itself is well chosen, noting that it essentially describes a machine making things up, but the underlying danger for young people is real.

According to Laycock, pupils who lack what he describes as foundational knowledge may struggle to determine whether an AI output is a fabrication or a genuine fact. The solution, he argues, is to instil a habit of scepticism, encouraging students to verify AI-generated claims independently rather than accepting them at face value.

A second area of concern is anthropomorphisation — the tendency for users to treat chatbots as trusted friends or authoritative experts simply because they communicate in a human-like manner. Laycock emphasises that despite these human-like qualities, the technology remains fundamentally a machine, and maintaining that perspective can be particularly difficult for young people.

He also warns that AI systems frequently flatter their users, agreeing with their ideas rather than challenging them. Describing this behaviour as sycophantic, he notes that the technology tends to tell users they are brilliant and that their ideas are excellent. Without critical thinking skills, young people risk becoming trapped in an over-reliant relationship with tools that offer constant validation rather than honest critique.

The lessons also cover the biases embedded in AI systems, which arise from the data on which they are trained and can skew the information they produce. Pupils are taught to recognise that these systems do not operate neutrally and may reflect particular norms or perspectives without users realising it.

Teaching will be adapted to what Laycock describes as different ages and stages of development. Younger pupils will concentrate first on building foundational knowledge and critical thinking abilities, with practical applications of AI introduced only once those building blocks are in place.

At Mearns Castle, all pupils in S1 and S2 will receive AI literacy lessons as part of their education. Older year groups will encounter the subject through citizenship and personal and social education classes, and an elective course will be offered to senior pupils who wish to explore the topic further.

Laycock will also take on a wider remit, helping to train fellow teachers in the use of AI and developing materials that can be shared with other schools. Six senior pupils have volunteered to work alongside him to help shape how the subject is taught across the school.

The creation of the post followed growing interest from parents and pupils, many of whom have been asking how artificial intelligence is likely to affect future careers. One pupil, Tomo, has wondered whether AI could fundamentally transform his chosen profession before he even graduates.

The move comes in the wake of a report published earlier this year by Edinburgh University, which concluded that Scottish schools have lacked both the time and the capacity to prepare adequately for the rapid rise of AI. Mearns Castle's decision to designate a specific role to the subject represents a direct response to that gap.

While many schools across the UK have staff members who serve as AI leads alongside their day jobs, the creation of a standalone position focused entirely on AI literacy is thought to be unprecedented. The school's message is clear: rather than encouraging pupils to embrace the technology uncritically, the aim is to ensure they can question it, challenge it and understand the machine they are interacting with — so that it does not diminish their own capacity to think and evaluate.