The Social Shaping of AI: Lessons from the 1990s CAD/CAM Debate
In 1995, I moved jobs from Gwent Tertiary College, a large vocational school in Wales, to take up a post as a researcher at the Institut Technik und Bildung (ITB) at the University of Bremen in Germany. I had never worked in a university before and was excited by the prospect of being a ‘proper’ researcher. More than that, I was deeply impressed by the central tenet of ITB’s work: the social shaping of technology. At that period, there were growing worries in Germany about the impact of new technologies on skilled work, particularly in the engineering industry. Some of […]
Digitally Native or Digitally Naïve? Rethinking Digital Literacy in VET
We often assume that because young people have grown up with smartphones in their hands, they are inherently equipped for the digital demands of the modern workplace. We label them “digital natives” and expect that their fluency with TikTok or Fortnite will naturally translate into proficiency with professional tools and critical thinking online. However, a new report from AQA, titled “Digitally native or digitally naïve?”, challenges this assumption head-on, revealing a complex landscape where high usage of social media masks significant gaps in essential digital skills. For vocational education and training (VET), where preparing students for the realities of the […]
What Vocational Schools Can Learn from UK University AI Policies
For some time, there has been a growing concern that many vocational schools lack a developed, cohesive policy around Artificial Intelligence. While comprehensive survey data specific to the vocational education and training (VET) sector remains scarce, a recent report from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) sheds light on how UK universities are navigating this complex landscape. The findings are both revealing and, in some ways, uncomfortable. They offer critical lessons for teachers, trainers, and managers in vocational education as they consider how to integrate AI thoughtfully and effectively into their own institutions — and they resonate closely with work […]
What Europe’s Tech Sovereignty Push Means for Education
I have been writing this blog for over twenty years. One thing I have found is that I am either scraping for things to write about for there. Is a glut of stories waiting to be told. And yes, we are in a glut phase. You might think that something called the European Technological Sovereignty Package is something that could happily be left aside but I think this is one of the most important of the many European legislative initiatives. Anyway, on 3 June 2026, the European Commission published what it is calling the European Technological Sovereignty Package [1]. It […]
Beyond Skills A Capability Conception of Vocational Education
I don’t often cover press releases in this blog. But I am making an exception of this book for two reasons. Firstly because the authors and publishers, while still charging a lot for the hard back, are providing a PDF version for free. I am acutely aware that the cost of things like conferences, journals and books are the serious barrier to education for many. So lets hope this starts a trend The second is the content. For the last two years I have been arguing that AI and new technologies require a rethink of the direction in which vocational […]
The Future of Public Education: Understanding the Historic Teachers’ Strike in the Valencian Community
I work from a home office of the fifth floor of an apartment near the centre of Alicante. And the street I live on is the assembly point for the many demonstrations which take place here. Alicante is the capital of the southern province of the Valencia Region of Spain. It is a large Province and the location of my home office has given me a birds eye view of the growing crisis in public education in Valencia (see picture above). And, for once AI is not the biggest issue in education. Since May 2026, the Valencian Community has been […]
Learning requires hard work?
I’ve said it before and been proved wrong but I think that we are moving towards an understanding about the impact of AI on education or more precisely on learning. There is a growing understanding that while Generative AI chatbots are good at supporting performance they are not effective in supporting learning. Indeed a series of research studies report that despite impressive performances while using AI for assignments, subsequent similar tasks undertaken without the support of AI display poor learning returns. In his substack post Ethan Mollick, a long time AI enthusiast of AI in education,illustrates this with an account […]
Fractured Reality: What the EU’s New Report on Democracy and Technology Means for VET
A new report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) offers a sobering diagnosis of the current state of our digital public sphere. Enitled Fractured Reality: How Democracy Can Win the Global Struggle Over the Information Space, the report details how the fundamental architecture of the internet—specifically the “attention economy”—is systematically undermining democratic resilience in Europe [1]. For practitioners and leaders in education the report is not just a theoretical warning. It outlines a set of structural challenges that directly impact how citizens learn, how they engage with civic life, and how educational institutions must adapt to a world […]
What arXiv’s New Policy of banning AI Slop Means for Educational Research
AI slop is causing increasing concern everywhere and education is no exception. The number of requests I have received to review submissions to education journals has more than trebled this year. According to gossip the EU education programmes have never before received so many applications and they are likely to change application procedures next year. AI makes it easier but there are downsides. The open-access preprint repository arXiv has recently announced a strict new policy aimed at curbing the influx of low-quality, AI-generated research papers. The platform, which has become a primary site for circulating research in fields like computer […]
How do people in different countries feel about AI?
Just a quick following up on my last post where I reported on the growing opposition to AI in the USA. The most up to date comparative survey of attitudes to AI in different countries that I van. find was publihsed. in Sp[etemeber last year and undertaken by Pew Research. They say: As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increases rapidly, most people across 25 countries surveyed say they have heard or read at least a little about the technology.And on balance, people are more concerned than excited about its growing presence in daily life. A median of 34% of […]
