AI Education Content Store

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER #4 - JULY 2025

This newsletter aims to keep you updated on the development of the AI Education Content Store, commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

In this edition:

What is the AI Education Content Store?

The Project in development: Outcomes of the June hackathon

Meet the Team: Dale Spick, assistant headteacher at Teddington School, Southwest London

Who are we working with? How can teachers contribute to Phase 2 of the project?

What is the AI Education Content Store?

The AI Education Content Store will be a repository of AI-optimised educational material, developed in partnership with the sector and key education organisations. It will include curated content such as programmes of study, lesson plans and anonymised student work.

The material in the content store will be gathered collaboratively with the sector – we will be guided by teachers, students and parents, as well as by educational leaders. Once we have amassed a centralised repository of AI-optimised content, we will offer access to edtech providers, who will use it to develop AI products for schools and colleges.

The Project in Development:

As part of London Tech Week this month, we held the third AI Education Content Store hackathon. This hackathon looked very different from the previous two – not least because it was in part open to the public.

Hackathon: day one

The afternoon began with a visit by DfE senior stakeholders. The DfE guests met the AI for Education tools competition winners and were given an introduction to the tools they are developing using the AI Education Content Store.

Three teams from the March hackathon were chosen to compete in June’s event. The tools selected were particularly impressive, as well as being aligned with work already going on in the sector. The DfE was keen to see how the teams could build on these tools.

The three teams were given time to reacquaint themselves with the content store – including improvements that had been introduced since March. After that, they started working on their tools: iterating and testing them.

One of the main aims of this hackathon was to increase public engagement with the content store. And so, midway through the afternoon, the doors were opened to members of the public. Throughout the afternoon, people came into the event to ask what was going on, what the project was and who was developing it – and, occasionally, wanting to take part in the hackathon.

At the end of the first day, the three teams gave short presentations about their tools to three judges: Jenny Oldroyd, DfE Curriculum and General Qualifications Director, Elin de Zoete, cofounder and group director of ImpactEd group, and Professor Mutlu Cukorova, professor of learning and artificial intelligence at the UCL Institute of Education.

The three teams – and how they were judged

Team 1 looked at generating targeted formative assessments at a particular point in a scheme of learning. They developed a system that generated various examples of formative assessment – specifically quizzes – for key stage 3 maths.

Team 2 built a tool that was able to mark long-form, subjective assessments, evaluating GCSE English language written work against the curriculum requirements.

Team 3 developed a tool that was able to provide targeted feedback on key stage 1 and 2 schoolwork, surfacing the guidance used to inform it in feedback to the user.

The teams’ presentations to the judges covered the functionality of the tools, how they made use of the content store and what content was most useful to them. They also included a brief demonstration of the tools.

The judges awarded marks to the teams according to the following criteria:

● Innovation: How original was the tool? Did address a clearly defined need and demonstrate clever use of technology?

● Use of the content store: Can they demonstrate an understanding of the content store, and what did and didn’t work for them? Did they make full use of the content store’s capabilities?

● Pedagogical alignment: Are the tool’s outputs aligned with curriculum standards or pedagogical goals?

The judges then tallied their scores and decided on a winning team – but did not announce it.

Hackathon: day two

In front of a public audience, the content store team gathered on London Tech Week’s Tech Horizons stage.

Angie Ma, cofounder of Faculty AI, introduced the content store, outlining its aims and objectives, as well as the purpose of the hackathon.

The teams then showed the audience video overviews of their tool demos. These illustrated how the content store could enhance the capabilities of edtech tools for assessment and feedback use cases.

And Stephen Morgan, Minister for Early Education announced that the winner of the hackathon was Team 2, for its work on a tool that could mark long-form subjective assessments. The team found that allowing its essay-marking tool access to the content store increased its accuracy by 32 per cent.

To conclude, Ms Ma chaired a panel discussion on innovation, AI and future of edtech between Professor Cukurova, Sir Anthony Seldon, former headteacher, education pundit and cofounder of AI in Education, and Minister Morgan.

Addressing the audience, Minister Morgan reiterated that the government is passionate about AI in education and the opportunities it presents.

Outcomes

The two previous hackathons were designed to test use cases and demonstrate the viability of the AI Education Content Store. This time, the aims also included:

● Edtech engagement: The hackathon broadened engagement with the edtech community, building a core group of advocates.

● Public engagement: This hackathon also brought the content store to a large public audience, educating them about the project, its goals and how it fits into the future of edtech.

● Problem solving: Edtech companies saw how they could use the content store to iterate upon and improve real-world tools that already exist.

● Showcasing innovation: The audience at London Tech Week was able to observe in practice how the government is facilitating innovation

Meet the Team:

Dale Spick

What is your role?

I’m the assistant headteacher responsible for teaching and learning, curriculum, AI and digitalisation at Teddington School, in South West London.

We’ve contributed a wide range of teacher-created subject materials to the AI Education Content Store. These include resources for English, maths, science, philosophy, computer science and religious studies.

I'm also an active member of the teacher reference group, where I share insights about how AI is shaping my role as a teacher. I participated in the second AI hackathon at the end of March.

What’s your background?

My specialist subject is economics, and I’ve always been fascinated by how technology can drive transformation – not just in education, but across society as a whole.

I joined Bourne Education Trust in September 2022, and since then I’ve been actively involved with the AI in Education team. This has allowed me to explore how AI can enhance learning experiences and improve outcomes for students.

What do you enjoy about working on the AI Education Content Store?

Teaching is a tough job, and it can be lonely at times. I believe in the power of collaboration – sharing ideas, resources and knowledge to support others in the profession. Being part of the AI Education Content Store is a chance to contribute in a meaningful way – adding another piece to the puzzle that helps educators create valuable resources.

I'm proud that Teddington School has been chosen to collaborate with the Department for Education. But, more importantly, I’m excited about the broader impact – this work benefits not only our school and students but also the wider educational community. Knowing that our contributions can make a positive difference is something I’m incredibly proud of.

What do you do when you’re not working on the content store?

When I’m not at work, I love spending time with my partner and our daughter, Nellie. Whether we’re exploring the outdoors or enjoying quiet moments at home, family time is important to me.

Who are we working with?

The teacher reference group reconvened this month, to discuss steps forward for Phase 2 of the AI Education Content Store project.

The meeting was initially used to thank the teachers for their contributions to Phase 1 of the project. Teachers and leaders from more than 25 schools and multi-academy trusts engaged with the content store during this phase, providing content for the store and participating in the hackathon.

Teachers’ contributions were particularly valuable during the March hackathon, where participants benefited from access to the content teachers had provided. And edtech companies found it extremely useful to have teachers on hand to explain how the tools they were building would be used – which in turn helped the edtech companies to identify relevant content for teachers.

At the meeting, we then explained to teachers how they could support the development of the content store through Phase 2.

1. Use-case testing

Phase 2 will focus in depth on two use cases, one of which will look at automatic assessment of long-form student responses, such as essays. The aim is to assess whether – and how much – access to the content store improves the quality of feedback generated by edtech tools, at individual student and class level.

Teacher reference group members will be invited to a workshop where they will discuss the use case, with the aim of identifying particular pain points that edtech tools may be able to address.

Then, in early July, each teacher will be provided with a sample essay – most likely key stage 2 English, though essays may also cover history and geography – and feedback generated without access to the content store. Teachers will be asked to look through this feedback over the summer holidays, to assess the following:

● Are tools providing high-quality, personalised feedback?

● How accurately does the feedback identify the strengths and weaknesses of students’ writing?

● Would it save teachers time?

The teachers’ responses will be used to make improvements to the content store at the end of the summer. Then, in September, teachers will be invited to repeat the test again, this time with feedback generated with content-store access, so that a comparison can be made.

2. Quality assurance

In addition, teachers will be invited to a one-hour meeting, in which they will help ensure that edtech tools meet pedagogical best practice. Discussion will include which pedagogical practices teachers use in lessons, as well as what quality indicators they would look for in edtech tools.

3. Provider portal

Teachers will also be invited to a one-hour session to discuss the provider portal that allows them to upload content to the content store. The aim is to ensure that the portal is as user-friendly as possible.

Got a Question for the Core Delivery Team?

email us at: content-store-programme@faculty.ai