I recently finished reading The Next Word – AI & Learners, Dr Nick Jackson & Matt Esterman’s new book featuring the thoughts of student Amy Wallace on the effective use of gen AI tools in education.

The Next Word – AI & Learners challenges educators to stop asking whether AI should be allowed in schools and start asking what kind of learning really matters in a world where intelligent tools are everywhere. Drawing on research, classroom realities, and powerful student voice, the book re-frames AI not as a cheating threat or a passing trend, but as a learning partner that exposes long-standing cracks in assessment, curriculum design, and school structures.

One of favourite quotes from Amy …

So, here’s the challenge: instead of trying to catch students out, what if schools asked harder questions about the value of their assessments? What’s core and what’s fluff? What’s essential and what’s just tradition?

The book argues that AI hasn’t broken education, it has simply revealed how much schooling has prioritised compliance, performance, and busy work over deep thinking, creativity, and genuine understanding. For teachers and leaders, this is a call to shift focus from controlling learning to understanding how students learn, reflect, collaborate, and grow.

What makes this book especially compelling is its strong ethical lens and its inclusion of student perspectives, particularly through contributions from Amy. The book tackles hard questions around equity, bias, well-being, environmental impact, and the growing cultural disconnect between how students live and how schools operate. It urges schools to move beyond bans and surveillance, and instead prepare young people to use AI wisely, critically, and creatively as thinkers, problem-solvers, and ethical humans.

The Next Word – AI & Learners is not a “how-to” manual for tools; it is a deeply human guide for educators navigating the biggest shift in learning since the internet, reminding us that while AI may be the smartest presence in the room, wisdom, compassion, and courage still belong to us.

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