In November 2025, leaders from the Global Cities Education Network, Digital Promise’s League of Innovative Schools, and other international education organizations and school systems, traveled to Shanghai, China, for the annual GCEN Symposium. With the theme of, “AI-Powered Policy, Pedagogy, and Practice,” attendees from Italy, India, Uruguay, Türkiye, Canada, and the United States explored how China integrates artificial intelligence (AI) across its education system. Through learning and networking opportunities, symposium attendees and expert panelists shared ideas, visited local schools to explore new ways to address common system-level educational challenges, and discussed how these unique educational approaches could be incorporated into their own local learning contexts.
“Being part of GCEN in Shanghai gave me space to really think about how we are using AI in education while also experiencing education and culture in China firsthand. Through school visits, cultural experiences, and honest conversations with educators and researchers from around the world, I found myself rethinking how AI can better support teachers, lift student voices, and strengthen learning communities. Seeing AI in action across classrooms and teacher development, and then reflecting on it together with colleagues, reminded me that the real impact of AI comes from how intentionally we choose to use it for students and educators.”
–Michelle Dawson, Senior Director of Technology and Innovation at Compton Unified School District, California
Based on these unique learning opportunities, symposium attendees acknowledged that education in China is well resourced and schools are equipped with the most current, advanced technology, including mental health AI bots, tutoring platforms, and VR and AR holography labs. Not every school has every technology, but the national focus on, and prioritization of, AI is helping to spread these resources among schools across the nation.
Technology is looked to as a tool—one that enhances teaching and learning, curricula, and pedagogy. It supports learning, rather than replacing critical thinking or the humans who foster learning. Of note to the participants, was that technology and technology adoption is driven by the education system’s needs rather than external technology companies.
During the symposium’s school visits, participants saw deep student engagement in classrooms, with one Chinese school principal sharing that human interaction fosters engagement among students and teachers alike and AI is a tool that can ensure greater efficiency in the classroom, thereby creating more time for such human interactions. Attendees also saw master teachers using AI and education technology to promote creativity while encouraging students to present and work in small groups. For instance, in a lesson on an ancient poet, students first learned about his style of poetry with their teacher, then worked in small groups to analyze the symbolism behind his poems, and finally worked with AI to create their own poems in the same style. Students had to evaluate the efforts of AI and debate its role in the classroom as part of a full class discussion. This balance of human interaction and technology helps teachers effectively facilitate classroom instruction and ensure that students are mastering lessons. It also allows teachers to improvise and expand on what students can learn.
“The GCEN Shanghai experience solidified my belief that the future of education lies in a ‘facilitated’ model, where learning is driven by the student and expertly guided by the educator. To achieve this, we must view AI and education technology as functional enhancements that support—rather than replace—the essential human interactions that are the heartbeat of our schools. The mandate moving forward is to ensure we are intentionally creating learning environments that prioritize student agency and mental health, truly allowing every learner to see the world and be themselves.”
–Gary Hardie, Vice President, Board of Education, Lynwood Unified School District
The key to being able to position technology as a learning tool lies in educator support—which is a high priority in China. Teachers receive significant support to ensure they can effectively incorporate AI into their lesson plans. Through dedicated time to collaborate with educator colleagues, mentoring and coaching opportunities, and access to professional resources like EdChat (a database of more than 40,000 courses) and platforms for classroom observation and reflection on practice, teachers are well-positioned to learn with and from each other as well as their students as new tech tools and AI-centered pedagogy are implemented.
With increased classroom technologies comes more student data—a critical component to enhancing teaching and learning. Yet, throughout their school visits and discussions, symposium attendees noted significant teacher and student surveillance and data collection compared to what they see in their local schools and districts. Participants witnessed students with wearable devices, classrooms and hallways monitored via cameras, and AI collecting and analyzing all of this information. The district and school leaders discussed the need to balance data collection and student privacy, especially as they consider how their own school systems could more effectively collect and use data – something often underutilized in the U.S. and other countries.
The overall system of AI integration was highly appreciated by the symposium attendees. China’s federal government has established a national plan requiring AI education at every grade level, sometimes just a matter of hours per year for younger grades, but these are important guidelines to assure teachers and leaders that this is the right direction to take. Regional or city policies then support the necessary teacher training and resource development.
Global learning opportunities allow district and school leaders to rethink and reimagine what schools can look like. Outside the boundaries of their own schools and districts, leaders are better able to see how other school systems operate and take what might work for their students and teachers back home. The 2025 Symposium offered these leaders a unique insight into Shanghai’s school system—one that pushes students and works diligently to prepare them for the future and the technology behind it.
Many U.S. schools already have such technologies and supports, yet others face significant gaps that must be addressed to prepare our students for the future. More resources are needed, including AI policies, hardware, professional development for teachers, and commitment by governments to provide and fund them.
“The range of perspectives was wide, yet the conversations kept circling back to the same concerns. We talked about how schools can support students who face poverty, how to close gaps that feel older than the systems themselves, and how to bring new tools into classrooms without losing the human connection that learning depends on. The accents and examples were different, but the heart of the work felt familiar. It reminded me that even when our cultures don’t match, we carry many of the same questions about how to care for young people in a changing world.”
-Tim Dawkins, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, South Glens Falls School District, NY
