Over the past six months, the Barker Institute has been working with colleagues and partners to establish a new strategic research program. Sitting alongside The Barker Journey as a key project, AI, Learning and the Developing Person has started. Guided by the question “What is the impact of Generative AI on young minds (PreK-12)?”, the program brings together research, professional learning, and practical innovation to explore one of the defining educational challenges of our time.

One of the first steps of the program was to undertake a rapid literature review. A collaborative project with the University of Sydney, this review will be publicly launched early next term. By way of a sneak peek: the review examined more than 800 studies on AI and young people since 2022. While early findings suggest AI may support motivation, engagement, and confidence in some contexts, significant questions remain about deeper learning, cognition, relationships, wellbeing, and human development.

In response, the Barker Institute has developed a coordinated portfolio of research organised around five further questions:

Thinking – How is AI changing how students think and learn?

Becoming – Who are we becoming through our interaction with AI?

Acting – How should we use AI wisely and responsibly?

Building – How can AI strengthen educational practice and systems?

Experiencing – What is it actually like to grow up with AI?

Over the coming months, we will share findings, project updates, publications, and opportunities for collaboration across each of the areas.

To provide an idea of what each of these portfolios look like, you can read an overview by clicking here. The overview provides a snapshot of the program, the research questions guiding our work, and the projects within each portfolio currently underway.

We welcome educators, researchers, schools, and community partners to join the conversation as we seek to understand how AI can enhance learning while preserving the intellectual, ethical, creative, and relational capacities that underpin human flourishing.

Barker Institute

The Barker Institute is the research and professional learning centre of Barker College, an Anglican co-educational school in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 2014, and building on research in learning work that had been taking place since 2008, it is one of the original school-based educational research centres in the country and it brings together teachers, researchers, students, and academic partners to pursue close-to-practice research. The Barker Institute's team consists of people who are simultaneously experienced educators and experienced researchers, bringing a unique voice to research in education. Its Research Agenda spans classroom experience, Christian education, character and enterprise, humanitarian education, and robotics and innovation. These sit alongside its two significant projects: The Barker Journey, an ongoing, decade long longitudinal study, and AI, Learning, and the Developing Person, a three-year project aligning research and practice guided by the question: What is the impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on young minds (PreK-12)? Guided by the conviction that knowledge is for sharing, the Barker Institute seeks to inform policy, improve practice, and inspire thoughtful action grounded in the realities of school life.