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12/12/2024

Students excel with Northern Ireland’s Microsoft Copilot integration

Education Authority of Northern Ireland (EANI) faced challenges: varying student abilities requiring tailored educational approaches, limited resources in rural schools, administrative burdens on teachers, and rising complexity in special education needs necessitating better tools.

 

Education Authority of Northern Ireland (EANI) introduced Microsoft Copilot to reduce admin work, allowing teachers to focus on students. The Microsoft partnership ensures secure and ethical AI use, while teacher training focuses on prompt writing and effective tool adoption.

 

Through Copilot's innovative features, educators can now craft personalized learning experiences with ease. The technology adapts to diverse learning styles, ensuring every student has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their challenges.

EANI

Established in 2015 under the Education Act, the Education Authority of Northern Ireland (EANI) is a regional body responsible for delivering education and youth services to approximately 1,200 schools, 21,000 teachers, and 380,000 students across the region. Their goal is to challenge, inspire, and empower students from pre-school through post-primary education.

Achieving this goal requires removing learning barriers, which range from ability and cultural background differences to limited resources and geographic isolation faced by the country’s sizable rural population. EANI is focused on fostering equity to ensure every child in Northern Ireland is equipped with the necessary tools and resources to thrive in a modern classroom.

“For us in education, it's about the impact for children,” explains Cynthia Currie, Director of Education at the Education Authority. “I see education as a passport to a child’s future, and we can really make a difference if we get that right in the early stages of an individual's career.” 

For us in education, it's about the impact for children. I see education as a passport to a child’s future, and we can really make a difference if we get that right in the early stages of an individual's career.

Cynthia Currie, Director of Education, Education Authority of Northern Ireland (EANI)

"Enhancing education with AI tools Featuring The Education Authority of Northern Ireland"

Tapping into the power of Microsoft Copilot

To meet the unique needs of the education system, EANI launched Northern Ireland’s Education Information Solutions (EdIS) program. Designed to modernize hardware and software across schools, EdIS links the entire educational community within one unified digital system. This initiative is transforming digital technology across EA schools, in hopes of closing learning gaps and improving access to quality education.  

Educators faced mounting administrative burdens that took away valuable time from focused instruction. They needed tools that could streamline their workload, support the creation of engaging and effective lessons, and offer tailored support to meet the diverse individual needs of students, regardless of their circumstances or location.

What EANI realized they needed was Microsoft Copilot.

“What we saw in Copilot was the opportunity to reduce teacher workload and to prepare lessons in a much faster but more meaningful way,” says Damian Harvey, Interim Head of EA C2K (Classroom 2000), a service within EANI that oversees education technology resources needed by schools. “And for us, that's a real game changer.”

EANI chose Microsoft and Copilot for the responsible AI approach and information governance standards, ensuring data security while minimizing exposure of sensitive student information. EANI further proved their commitment to ethical AI use in three key areas: promoting safe and secure use of AI, assessing its impact on children and young people (specifically avoiding bias), and building educator confidence in integrating the new technology.  

“We needed to know that AI would help young people gain the best experiences and outcomes,” says Currie, “and that there was a closed network to ensure that information governance was secure.” 

What we saw in Copilot was the opportunity to reduce teacher workload and to prepare lessons in a much faster but more meaningful way. And for us, that's a real game changer.

Damian Harvey, Interim Head, EA C2K (Classroom 2000)

Increasing productivity to maximize learning time

Northern Ireland’s education system benefits from a centralized structure with a dedicated core team that directly supports schools and builds trust through ongoing, personalized interactions. This team plays a critical role in introducing and scaling AI initiatives like Copilot by creating communities of practice and ensuring data security, effectively addressing educators’ concerns about new technology. 

EANI initially rolled out AI-powered learning tools on a small scale, selecting key innovative educators to pilot the free version of Copilot in their classrooms. These educators immediately recognized its potential to save time—a critical need given increasing demands and educator shortages. However, some educators expressed concerns about the tool’s scope, particularly regarding its widespread use in the classroom.  

To address these concerns, EANI introduced training sessions focused on effective prompt writing, showcasing Microsoft 365 Copilot’s capabilities. Educators quickly discovered the practical benefits of upgrading to Microsoft 365 Copilot for tasks like creating PowerPoint presentations, generating questions in Microsoft Forms, and developing differentiated classroom resources. The substantial time savings and enhanced ability to meet diverse student needs drove widespread staff adoption and growing enthusiasm.

“Any trepidation that my staff had quickly disappeared when they saw for themselves how Copilot could actually help us with our teaching and learning,” says Helen Doherty, Vice Principal of St. Coleman's College in Newry, Northern Ireland. “It saves considerable time from tedious paperwork and allows educators to incorporate more activities involving group work, critical thinking, and problem-solving.” 

With the introduction of Microsoft 365 Copilot, educators could easily distribute differentiated resources and conduct digital assessments. 

Any trepidation that my staff had quickly disappeared when they saw for themselves how Copilot could actually help us with our teaching and learning. It saves considerable time from tedious paperwork and allows educators to incorporate more activities involving group work, critical thinking, and problem-solving.

Helen Doherty, Vice Principal, St. Coleman's College in Newry, Northern Ireland

Using Teams integrations to streamline workloads and provide individualized learning

As part of its move to adopt the latest in learning technology and further embrace AI, EANI began exploring integrating AI into Microsoft Teams to support educators with providing personalized and efficient feedback. The solution learns from educators’ responses to suggest relevant comments in future assessments, reducing administrative workloads.

“In terms of supporting curriculum development and the various interventions that can support children, we were looking for best-in-breed technology to help every child succeed in the classroom,” explains Damian. “Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Copilot 365 came forward as something that could help us to achieve our aims. It supports us in assessing how a child is progressing and providing salient, impactful feedback that will support learning opportunities going forward. It gives us the ability to integrate with Teams to support the assessment of classroom work and to give more meaningful feedback to each individual child.”

Using Copilot to transform approaches to inclusivity

In Northern Ireland, the increasing complexity of special educational needs requires tailored approaches in classrooms. Educators need to manage multiple personalized learning pathways, a challenging task that is made easier with AI-powered tools like Copilot.    

Clifton Special School in Bangor, Northern Ireland, embraces this inclusive approach by providing a high-quality education that prepares pupils to lead rich and rewarding lives. They serve students aged 3 to 19 with a range of complex healthcare needs, behavioral challenges, and learning difficulties. Clifton focuses on supporting each student’s unique needs, seeing them as strengths instead of difficulties. 

Vice Principal Brenda Mullan believes Copilot is transformative in supporting this diversity. “The opportunity to personalize learning is huge,” she says. “Now every child can utilize the resources they need to move them forward academically.”

Clifton empowers students by promoting their independence and ensuring they have agency in their education. Historically, students with learning difficulties were often treated passively, but Clifton aims to change that by aligning the curriculum with the unique interests and passions of students. Using Copilot, an educator can incorporate students’ interests to inform lesson planning, making learning more engaging and customized rather than a one-size-fits-all model.

Looking ahead, there is excitement about integrating Microsoft Copilot 365 to streamline tasks like lesson planning and data analysis, giving educators more time to interact with their students. 

The opportunity to personalize learning is huge. Now every child can utilize the resources they need to move them forward academically.

Brenda Mullan, Vice Principal, Clifton Special School in Bangor, Northern Ireland

“With these accessibility tools, a young person who doesn't have the ability to click a mouse or touch a touch screen can make the choice with their eyes,” Mullan explains. “These kinds of things will open opportunities for young people with disabilities. It's about removing barriers to learning so that our young people can experience and achieve success on their own. And we're really keen on working with Microsoft to explore how that could happen.” 

For an art class project, students chose options based on their likes and interests. Educators then used Copilot to create a prompt reflecting these preferences, enabling students to create their own artwork with minimal assistance. This approach aligns with Northern Ireland’s Special Educational Needs and Disability Act, which emphasizes valuing young people’s voices in decisions that affect them.

“The very fact that the young person has been the architect of their own work based on their likes, dislikes, and choices, the pride that they show—the ownership of that— has raised their self-esteem,” Brenda says. “It’s all informed through Copilot. Our young people are much happier, invested, and valued.”

EANI plans to expand the use of Microsoft 365 Copilot in schools across Northern Ireland, supported by a research study to measure its impact. This research will independently verify the tool’s influence on student outcomes, sharing success stories to inspire the wider educational community. 

With these accessibility tools, a young person who doesn't have the ability to click a mouse or touch a touch screen can make the choice with their eyes. These kinds of things will open opportunities for young people with disabilities. It's about removing barriers to learning so that our young people can experience and achieve success on their own.

Brenda Mullan, Vice Principal, Clifton Special School in Bangor, Northern Ireland

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