IB summit in Istanbul spotlights AI & student voice

Constructor Tech held a Future Ready IB Schools Summit in Istanbul, bringing together about 60 school leaders, coordinators and educators from IB World Schools in Türkiye.

The half-day programme focused on teaching, assessment and digital education as artificial intelligence becomes more prominent in classrooms. Sessions included keynotes, a panel with IB practitioners, a live link to Eastwood Global School in Switzerland, and a virtual science lab masterclass.

In his keynote and a later interview, Pascal Ashkar, head of IBWS digital learning, teaching and assessment at the International Baccalaureate, argued that AI is now central to education debates, while teachers retain the final say.

"AI is not a side project anymore. It is the core of how we think about teaching, learning, and integrity," Ashkar said.

In a separate interview at the summit, he drew a clear line between the use of software in schools and the role of classroom staff.

"We're moving into an AI era where AI is all around the classroom, but AI would never be able to replace a teacher," he said.

"With the support AI is giving, it's going to be a great tool for teachers, schools, and students to use to improve learning, and for teachers to look at their teaching completely differently," he said.

"AI is a great tool, AI is a great support, but AI would never be able to explain the way teachers explain, or understand students, their emotions and sentiments, the way a teacher does," he said.

"The final judgment will always be in the hands of teachers. This is today," he said.

Student voice

Another theme was the role of students in shaping how schools teach. Seden Chouseinoglou, an IB Educator Network member who joined the panel, said IB schools can shift their approach when leaders treat students as participants in planning rather than only recipients of teaching.

"The first thing IB transforms in an IB school context is the mindset of people and the leadership," Chouseinoglou said.

"Students become partners in this learning process, and they contribute to curriculum design," she said.

"If curriculum design involves student voice as a partner in the planning process, and through their reflections they revise the curriculum, this helps schools move from a teacher-centered to a student-centered approach," she said.

"Again, we come back to mindset, the mindset of leadership. What skills does an IB school leader need? First of all, they need to embrace change and equip themselves with strategies to lead change in their schools," she said.

System questions

The event also highlighted a practical issue schools face when adopting new digital products: whether separate systems can work together without adding to administration. Gürcan Demirci, president for Türkiye and the Balkans at Constructor Tech, raised the question in his opening remarks and a translated interview.

"This is our first Future Ready IB Schools Summit, and our goal is to bring the IB community together every year around a different theme, shaping the future of education," Demirci said.

"What really matters is whether these digital tools work together. Can these digital tools talk to each other? Or do they put an extra burden on teachers and school leaders?" he said.

"We're here to solve this. We're working to create an education ecosystem. Our all-in-one platform brings together eight different scenarios in one place," he said.

Nick Dobrovolskiy, chief technology officer at Constructor Tech, demonstrated the company's platform and its virtual laboratories in physics, biology and chemistry. He focused on reducing fragmentation across teaching, testing and assessment tools.

"Constructor Tech's solution is based on one single platform," Dobrovolskiy said.

"All those verticals, whether preparing content or delivering it, arranging tests or assessments, proctoring them, or practicing while you're learning, are built on one platform and avoid the problem of multiple logins and different experiences," he said.

"Here at the IB Summit, we're showing physics, biology and chemistry science labs to help teachers experience for themselves how they can teach these subjects to their students using our solutions," he said.