Al, Policy, and the Possibility of School Transformation Stories from the Field with guests Brett Dascombe, Nick Pattison, Peter Howes, Marnie McCormick
AI is entering schools rapidly, but the real challenge is not simply how educators can use it. The deeper question is: What do existing policies, institutional structures, and expectations allow schools to do differently?
In this episode of Silver Lining for Learning, we talk with four Australian educators and school leaders who are members of the Courageous Minority, an international community exploring how meaningful educational transformation can happen from within existing systems.
Together, they bring perspectives from classroom teaching, school leadership, digital learning, curriculum, and policy. We discuss the tensions between innovation and regulation, teacher judgement and system requirements, experimentation and accountability, and the possibilities that still exist within schools for doing something genuinely different.
Can AI help schools move beyond simply making traditional education more efficient? Can it support greater student agency, authentic problem finding and solving, creativity, collaboration, and more personalized learning? And where can educators find the space to experiment when institutional structures seem designed to preserve existing practices?
This conversation is about both the constraints schools face and the possibilities that courageous educators can create within them.
Brett Dascombe is a Geography teacher at Wavell State High School in Brisbane with more than 25 years of experience in Queensland education. He connects classroom learning with industry, universities, and communities through student-led geospatial projects and contributes to curriculum, assessment, and teacher learning around emerging technologies.
Peter Howes is Principal of Ballina Coast High School in northern New South Wales and a member of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council Executive. With more than 30 years in public education, he is a strong advocate for student agency, community-connected learning, and the principle that education should be done with students, not to them.
Marnie McCormick is Deputy Principal (Learning) at Wavell State High School in Brisbane and a member of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders Queensland Executive. She has worked in public education for 20 years and is particularly interested in how schools can respond thoughtfully to AI while sustaining human relationships, critical thinking, creativity, and educational purpose.
Nick Pattison is Digital Learning Leader–Junior School at Haileybury in Melbourne, where he leads digital learning and innovation across four campuses. A STEAM educator and doctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide, his work explores how emerging technologies, including AI, can foster creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in young learners.
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