China is rolling out a textbook on artificial intelligence in its high schools in an effort to put its young people ahead in the global AI technology race.

According to one British advocate of textbooks, the move shows that predictions of the imminent demise of textbooks are exaggerated.

Tim Oates, director of research and development at Cambridge Assessment, said there was a “delicious irony” that a country seeking to lead the world in AI was teaching the subject via a traditional textbook rather than using digital resources.

According to the South China Morning Post, Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence was published after China’s State Council - the cabinet that oversees the country’s government - called for the inclusion of AI-related courses in primary and secondary education.

The textbook will be used in about 40 high schools across China that are participating in an AI education pilot programme.

Mr Oates, who authored a paper entitled “Why textbooks count”, hailed it as a vote of confidence in textbook teaching that he said had been noticed at “top policy level” in England.

“The fact is that if you want fundamentals to be presented in the curriculum in a way that is consistent, well-underpinned and in a manageable format, then a textbook is an excellent way of presenting it,” he said.

He went on: “The delicious irony is that this is a country that wants to lead in AI.

“They haven’t seen an interactive learning environment governed by AI as the way to establish the fundamentals in the kids, they have decided quite rightly that a textbook is the right way to do it.”

‘Antipathy towards textbooks’

While China might be putting its faith in textbooks, a Tes investigation last year revealed that their use is on the slide in this country.  

A Tes-YouGov survey found that just one in 10 teachers said they used textbooks in more than half of their lessons - a drop from 13 per cent three years ago. And just 8 per cent of teachers said they expected to use textbooks in most or all of their lessons by 2020.

According to the Publishers’ Association, the number of textbooks sold fell from 21.2 million units in 2013 to 20.5 million in 2016.

Mr Oates said that while “concerns about funding” had affected textbook use, the real reason for the decline was that an “anti-text book culture” had taken hold in England.

“The principal thing is a real antipathy towards textbooks and their role; the idea that you are a less effective teacher if you use a textbook,” he said.

However, he claimed that in “all of the highest performing [education] systems around the world, it is the highest quality teachers who are most supportive of the use of textbooks - which, of course, they use flexibly”.

Next week an international summit on textbooks is being held in London, co-hosted by schools minister Nick Gibb, Cambridge Assessment and the Royal Society.

Mr Oates said it would represent the first time that ministers and senior government officials from across the world had come together to discuss the use of textbooks.