Smart Support? AI-assisted School Placement Hackathon
On 20th May 2026, Craig Neville, Lorraine Chadwick and Caroline Conlon, lecturers in the School of Education, welcomed a group of student teachers from the PME programme alongside their treoraithe to participate in an innovative Hackathon linked to our #SATLE-funded project, Smart Support? AI-assisted school placement.
A Hackathon is an intensive, collaborative, and time-sensitive process that brings together individuals with different forms of expertise to identify challenges and work collectively towards practical and creative solutions. While Hackathons are often associated with technology and industry, their use within teacher education offers exciting possibilities for collaborative professional learning and research-informed innovation.
The focus of this Hackathon was to explore how artificial intelligence might support student teachers and treoraithe during the school placement experience. Participants worked together to consider how AI could be used to develop professional competencies linked to planning, reflection, feedback, communication, and professional learning throughout placement. Importantly, discussions also encouraged participants to think critically about the ethical, relational, and pedagogical dimensions of AI use within teacher education contexts.
One of the most valuable aspects of the event was the opportunity to bring together multiple perspectives within the same collaborative space. Student teachers and treoraithe were able to share experiences, identify common challenges, and co-construct ideas grounded in the realities of school placement practice. The intensity and structure of the Hackathon created a highly engaging environment that encouraged open discussion, creativity, and problem-solving.
From our perspective as researchers, the Hackathon proved to be an extremely effective approach not only for generating rich data and insights, but also for fostering meaningful dialogue between stakeholders. Equally, it was an enjoyable and energising experience for everyone involved. The collaborative atmosphere highlighted the value of creating structured opportunities for different educational stakeholders to think together about emerging issues in education.
Some of the ideas and proposals developed during the Hackathon will contribute to the final project report, which is due to be published in September 2026.
Although the Hackathon format was new to many participants 鈥� and indeed to us as researchers 鈥� it is certainly an approach we would highly recommend to others seeking to generate innovative, practice-informed solutions through collaboration and shared expertise.
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