At The British School of Barcelona, investing in our Teacher’s Professional Development is central to our School Development Plan 2025–2028. Professional learning and staff development not only enrich and strengthen the learning experiences we provide for our students but also support staff wellbeing and equip our community with innovative tools.

This year, BSB has launched a new AI Ambassadors Programme in collaboration with recognised educational technology expert Mark Anderson, also known as The ICT Evangelist, and a leading voice in EdTech and AI in education. The year-long initiative aims to develop staff understanding and effective use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support high-quality teaching, carefully planned learning, meaningful feedback, and workload reduction across the school.

Pedagogy First, Technology Second
Mark Anderson, best-selling author and award-winning educational blogger is leading the programme. His philosophy is simple yet powerful: ‘Pedagogy first, technology second.’ The focus is not on technology for its own sake, but on ensuring that AI helps teachers deliver even better learning experiences for students.

The programme brings together a pilot group of teachers from both Primary and Secondary across all BSB campuses, representing a range of subject areas including English, Mathematics, Science and Humanities. Over the coming year, participants will explore how to use AI tools to support lesson planning, resource creation, and scaffolding learning as well as to enable greater personalisation and rich feedback while always maintaining high standards of teaching and safeguarding.

Putting Students at the Centre
Research and previous projects led by Mark Anderson have demonstrated that when used effectively, AI can significantly reduce planning time while improving the quality of learning experiences. In one comparable project, teachers more than halved the time spent on planning while reporting that lessons were better tailored to their students’ needs.

As Mark explains, ‘The whole point is that the time AI saves goes straight back to the children. This is not about replacing teachers or handing children’s learning over to a machine. Used well, AI works quietly behind the scenes to help a skilled teacher prepare sharper, more tailored lessons in less time, so that more of their day is spent teaching, guiding and supporting your child directly.’

Building Internal AI Expertise
The pilot group brings together teachers and leaders from across BSB and ELIS, another Cognita school, with a range of AI experience. As Aaron Gilloway, Deputy Head of Early Years and Primary at BSB City Campus, explains: ‘Some participants use AI regularly, whilst others are only just beginning their journey. By including staff with varying levels of confidence and experience, we can better understand what support teachers need, what barriers exist, and where AI can genuinely make a difference.’

The first face-to-face training session at BSB Castelldefels focused on real classroom applications, encouraging staff to apply their professional expertise and judgement to improve teaching and learning.

Using AI Safely and Responsibly
Throughout the programme, participants work exclusively with Cognita-approved tools, including Microsoft Copilot, Flint and Canva AI, all of which meet strict safeguarding and data protection requirements. As Mark Anderson explains, ‘BSB is working only with sanctioned, school-approved tools, and a firm principle throughout is that pupil information is kept safe.’

The programme will continue throughout the academic year with regular check-ins, structured reflection and ongoing evaluation to ensure AI is implemented thoughtfully and responsibly. As Mark explains, ‘This is a considered, evidence-led programme, not an experiment. It runs across the year with regular check-ins, structured reflection from the teachers involved, and built-in evaluation so we can see clearly what is working, with the intention of sharing what we find.’

By the end of the programme, BSB will have its own trained AI champions and a bank of shared resources to continue developing best practice independently, ensuring the benefits of AI are delivered safely, responsibly and with students at the heart of every decision.