Material Access
The device, connection, tools and time needed to reach AI in the first place.
A new book by Paddy McGrath
THE AI
EQUITY
PARADOX
The Opportunity and Challenge of Building Equitable Education in the Age of AI
The promise is real. So is the paradox.
Start with the question
What the book is about
Access is where the conversation starts.
Access to AI is necessary but not sufficient for equity. The divide can open at every stage between availability and benefit.
This book follows that distance carefully. It asks what has to be true around a learner, a teacher and an institution before a powerful technology can widen opportunity rather than sort people by the support they already have.
Necessary for some. Useful for all.
A framework for action
Five
Thresholds
Equity is not a switch. It is a sequence of conditions, and every one of them matters.
Institutional Access
The policies, procurement, support and culture that make access meaningful in a learning setting.
Capability
The knowledge, confidence and practical skill to ask better questions and judge better answers.
Enabling Conditions
The conditions around a learner that make participation safe, supported and genuinely possible.
Benefit
The point at which access becomes improved opportunity, agency and outcomes.
For people shaping the next classroom
Who this book is for
- +Education leaders
- +School and trust leaders
- +Policymakers
- +SEND and inclusion leaders
- +EdTech and AI leaders
- +Anyone responsible for how AI is introduced into learning
The author
Paddy McGrath
Paddy McGrath works across education technology, accessibility, inclusion and expanding opportunity. He writes for the people making decisions about how technology enters learning, and for the people living with those decisions.
A book for the moment we are in
What we build around AI will determine who gets to benefit.
The Kindle and paperback editions are out now.
Kindle: available now · Paperback: available now
A note from the author
“For everyone who had to find another way in.”