When generative AI burst onto the global stage in late 2022, schools everywhere faced the same question: what will this mean for learning? At The American International School of Muscat (TAISM), we chose not to wait and see. In January 2023, our high school staff gathered to explore ChatGPT together. Instead of answers, we started with a question: “How will this change high school learning?” That conversation set the tone for what has become our collective journey with AI—driven by curiosity, reflection, shared responsibility, and grounded in teaching and learning.

Exploring Together

In 2024, a cross-disciplinary team of TAISM teachers traveled to the EduTech Asia Conference in Singapore, where we encountered UNESCO’s AI Competency Framework for Teachers and Students.  This framework is grounded in a human-centered approach to integrating generative AI in education. The framework gave us a global perspective but was dense. Together, we broke it down into tangible learning progressions so that every teacher, regardless of background, could see a pathway—from acquiring foundational knowledge, to deepening responsible use, to creating with integrity.

Building Teacher Capacity

In January 2025, we dedicated a half-day of professional learning time to AI @ TAISM to explore these ideas, grounded in a human-centered approach to using AI. Teachers engaged in sessions on AI foundations and prompt engineering, pedagogical applications, and the ethics of AI. The day reflected our belief that professional learning should be practical, challenging, and collaborative.

That same day, we invited students into the conversation through the AI Academy student panel . Their honest and insightful perspectives reshaped our thinking. As one student remarked:

“Today AI is the best it’s ever been—and the worst it’s ever going to be.”

Students as Co-Creators

Working with a team of students and high school faculty, we developed the AI Stoplight system, a shared language for teachers and students to clarify expectations—red for no AI use, yellow for cautious use, and green for responsible integration.

By April 2025, our work expanded to include every high school student with AI in April, a series of advisory sessions built on the UNESCO Student AI Competencies. Students engaged in scenarios around academic honesty, AI bias, and misinformation. They wrestled with when AI supports learning, when it undermines it, and how to navigate the gray areas responsibly.

Reflecting and Recalibrating

We also recognized the challenges. At times, AI weakened skills we value most—authentic writing, persistence, problem-solving. In response, we convened the Future Fluencies Think Tank in August 2025.

We began not with solutions but with honesty: “We don’t have all the answers.” Teachers analyzed the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs data, identifying which skills are rising in demand and which are receding. Many of the most critical skills—creativity, resilience, analytical thinking, empathy—aligned directly with TAISM’s Learner Profile and Learning Principles. This reinforced that while AI may change the tools we use, our mission remains steady.

Looking Ahead

From a staff-room experiment in 2023, to global insights in 2024, to shared professional learning and student voice in 2025, TAISM’s AI journey has been defined by collective effort. We have chosen to move forward not with fear or hype, but with curiosity, collaboration, and integrity.

By grounding our work in UNESCO’s competencies and translating them into progressions, we have ensured that every member of our community—teachers and students alike—can grow. At TAISM, AI is not about shortcuts. It is about preparing people to think critically, act ethically, and shape the future with purpose.  Rather than worry about how to prepare the next generation to navigate AI, we should ask ourselves:

If we don’t guide them, then who?  And if not now, then when?

By Kevin Schuttinger, High School Principal