To ask the Minister of Education to detail how the Reading with AI Research Project became part of the RAISE Programme.

The Reading with AI Research Project is one of a number of Cross-Cutting Initiatives progressing as part of the RAISE Programme.

Cross Cutting Initiatives span across RAISE and other areas to address common issues and supplement locality led projects by -

responding in a strategic way to cross-cutting priorities;

bringing additional opportunities to communities around key themes e.g. literacy /numeracy support, improving school attendance and so on; and

providing opportunities to test the effectiveness of a range of initiatives in tackling educational disadvantage across all types of education setting both within RAISE localities and beyond.

To that end officials provided a series of options for my consideration, which included the Reading with AI Research Study. The project provides an opportunity to test how AI tools can support literacy, aligned with research-informed approaches to reading it can help to inform future evidence based policy.

The Reading with AI Research Study aligns with one of RAISE intermediary benefits - Raising standards with a focus on increasing literacy, numeracy and digital skill outcomes for all pupils. Furthermore, the need to improve literacy levels has also been highlighted across localities throughout the engagement phase of the programme’s development.