Teachers need to be given a “powerful voice” in the development of education technology, a leading academic has said.

Rose Luckin, professor of learner-centred design at University College London, said that a lot of companies developing artificial intelligence do not know much about teaching and learning, or what it is like to be a teacher in the classroom.

It came the day after the Commons Education Select Committee announced it was launching an inquiry into how children are being prepared for the future involving artificial intelligence, robotics and ‘the internet of things’.

Speaking in a Tes Facebook Live video filmed at today’s HMC conference in London, she said: “I think if we could do one thing coming out of this inquiry by the select committee, it would be to get teachers’ skin in the game, and really get them to have a powerful voice in what’s developed, to actually work with developers, so that what they get is the best, rather than someone’s hand-me-downs.”

Joe Nutt, education consultant and Tes columnist, added: “Teachers, sadly, still tend to be the bottom of the food chain, and I think that’s counterproductive for the children.”

Watch Prof Luckin and Mr Nutt discuss new technologies in the classroom with Tes reporter Martin George below: