Crafting Microsoft Copilot to Unlock Learning Potential

Understand AI from both ethical and practical perspectives, including the specific craft of prompt engineering.

Earlier this year, Whitgift School invited TA Education to deliver a series of interactive workshops for students in Years 9 and 10, designed to support their use of Microsoft Copilot in the classroom.

These sessions were split across four subject areas and engaged both students and participating teachers. The ambition was to centre on the need for students to understand how to use AI ethically and effectively. With this in mind, Simon Johnson, one of TA educations leading AI consultants, designed lessons aligned with the learning outcomes of participating students and delivered sessions across four subject areas.

Why host AI workshops for students?

With increasing interest in the potential of AI across education, Whitgift School felt it was important to ensure that both staff and students develop a confident and critical understanding of Generative AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot.

The priority was not just to provide access to AI tools, but also to provide guidance to users on how to use it safely and effectively within the context of learning.The goal behind the sessions was to instil in participants the intentional use of AI across the school.

“There is an emphasis on never using AI for the sake of using AI, and these sessions instead embraced extending students' learning in creative ways.”

Katy Glanz, Head of Digital Learning.

This approach helped students understand that AI should enhance thinking rather than replace it, and underpinning this was the overarching ethos that in all activities was the key theme of recognising the importance of using AI ethically and with clear, focussed intent.

This meant that rather than relying on AI to “do the work,” students instead explored how it can support them with their work, regardless of whether the assistance was with content, creativity, or analysis. The sessions also reinforced how to avoid superficial or “AI gimmick” usage, focusing instead on learning outcomes and enrichment.

Literature through mood-based image generation

One activity which stood out involved GCSE English Literature students working with Vernon Scannell’s poem `Hide and Seek´, where students used evidence-based prompting in Microsoft Copilot to generate mood-driven images that reflected textual themes and interpretations.

This activity required students to translate literary understanding into precise visual prompts, strengthening both comprehension and analytical skills.

A teacher involved in the session noted:

“Students enjoyed the activity so much that they've requested to repeat the practise after studying every poem.”

Katy Glanz, Head of Digital Learning.

This highlights how AI, when used thoughtfully, can deepen and encourage renewed curiosity.

The wider impact on teaching

The workshops also provided a valuable opportunity for teachers to observe student interactions with Copilot in real time, building an understanding of how different prompting strategies supported the learners.

This dual experience of students exploring AI capabilities while teachers observe and reflect has helped inform Whitgift’s broader approach to integrating Copilot into teaching practice across the school.

The "Use" Perspective: Prompting as the New Literacy

In the past, interacting with computers required learning rigid coding languages. Today, generative AI uses natural human language, meaning the quality of the machine's output is directly tied to the quality of the user's input. This requires

Moving Beyond "Search Engine" Thinking: Most secondary students, and their teachers, treat AI like Google, typing in short, fragmented keywords (e.g., "French Revolution summary"). True prompt engineering requires teaching them to provide role, context, constraints, and specific formatting instructions (e.g., "Act as a history teacher. Summarise the causes of the French Revolution in three bullet points for a 14-year-old, focusing only on economic factors").
The "Garbage In, Garbage Out" Principle: If a student inputs a vague or poorly worded prompt, AI will likely respond with generic, superficial, or entirely inaccurate information. Learning how to structure prompts teaches students logical thinking, precision in language, and clarity of intent.
Future-Proofing Careers: Whether a student goes into healthcare, law, creative arts, or vocational trades, AI will be embedded in their workflow. The competitive advantage in the future job market won't just be knowing that AI exists but knowing exactly how to command it to automate routine tasks, draft communications, and analyse complex data.

The Ethical Perspective: Navigating a Digitally Fabricated World

Equipping students with the technical skills to use AI without teaching them the ethical guardrails is highly dangerous. Secondary school is the exact developmental window where critical thinking and scepticism must be sharpened.

Deconstructing "Hallucinations" and Bias: AI uses predictive engines; they guess the next most logical answer based on training data, not an innate understanding of truth. Students must understand that AI can confidently state absolute falsehoods (hallucinations) and mirror systemic societal biases hidden within the data used to train it.
Combating Misinformation and Deepfakes: We are entering an era where video, audio, and text can be perfectly simulated. Secondary students need an ethical framework to question the provenance of digital media. Understanding how easily AI generates content helps them realise why they must cross-reference and verify information rather than accepting a generated response or video at face value.
Intellectual Honesty vs. Cognitive Atrophy: There is a fine ethical line between using AI as a collaborative brainstorm partner and using it to outsource critical thinking. Students need to learn the ethics of academic integrity—understanding when AI is augmenting their learning (e.g., explaining a complex physics concept) versus when it is replacing their own cognitive effort (e.g., writing an entire essay for them).

The Intersection: Ethical Prompting

The technical and ethical perspectives converge beautifully within the act of prompting itself. When young people know how to write advanced prompts, they can actually use their technical skills to mitigate ethical risks:

Prompting for Neutrality: Students can learn to explicitly prompt AI to neutralise bias, such as adding: "Provide two opposing, well-supported viewpoints on this historical event, maintaining a strictly neutral and objective tone.”
Prompting for Verification: They can learn to include verification steps in their workflows, instructing the AI: "List the specific, verifiable historical primary sources or frameworks you used to construct this explanation."

AI is a technology that creates an event horizon beyond which there is no turning back. It is imperative that our young people are ready for the future they are about to inherit and exploit, and it is the role of education to prepare them for this brave new world.

“Ultimately, teaching secondary students both sides of the AI coin ensures they do not become passive consumers of a technology they don't understand. Instead, it empowers them to be critical, ethically grounded masters of tools that will define their generation.”

Professor Steve Molyneux, Chairman, TA Education

Our final thoughts

Understanding AI from both ethical and practical perspectives, including the specific craft of prompt engineering is rapidly becoming as foundational for secondary school students as literacy and basic mathematics.

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