New: Faithfully Forward Cohort for Christian school leaders. Term 1, 2027. Early bird until 15 December

PAUL MATTHEWS

TEDx speakerAuthorFellow, Baylor University

Helping schools navigate AI with wisdom, confidence and clarity.

AI is already changing your school. As a teacher, school leader and author, I help you make that change deliberate rather than accidental.

Take the 4-Minute AI Check Book Paul

TEDxHobart, 2024

135K+views of my TEDx talk
65+schools and organisations
4continents: Australia, North America, Europe and Asia
4books, including the Amazon bestseller Wise AI

What I do

Practical help for the most human work there is.

Paul speaking on stage beside a lectern

Education is the most human thing we do. Everything I offer is built to help your people use AI wisely, without outsourcing the thinking that makes them who they are.

Keynotes

Talks for conferences, schools and organisations. Honest, practical, and built so people leave with something they can use on Monday morning.

Staff PD

Hands-on days that meet teachers where they are. Less hype, more skill. Your staff leave able to do things they couldn’t do that morning.

School partnerships

A year of walking alongside your school. Shared language, practical skill and wise leadership, measured from start to finish.

See how partnerships work

Students and parents

Sessions that help students use AI without outsourcing their thinking, and help families understand what their kids are actually facing.

The new book

AI promises to save us time. So why are we busier than ever?

Faster doesn’t mean freer.

For most of us, AI has simply raised the bar on how much we’re expected to produce. The workload grows. The pace accelerates. And the space for what matters keeps shrinking.

Wise AI offers a different path: using AI to be fast in some areas so you can be slow in others. Room for deep work, deep thought, deep rest and deep relationships.

Not just a faster life. A more human one.

Written with Daniel Sih, award-winning author of Spacemaker and Raising Tech-Healthy Humans.

Get the book Book a Wise AI keynote

“AI explained in a simple, measured and wise way. This is a book we should all read!”

Madonna King, award-winning author and journalist

“A clear, practical framework for using AI in a human way without letting it redefine your priorities.”

Nir Eyal, author of Hooked and Indistractable

Wise AI by Daniel Sih and Paul Matthews, book cover

School partnerships 2027

One PD day helps. But one day rarely changes a culture.

Paul presenting at the International Transforming Education Conference
International Transforming Education Conference, 2024

Every school is being changed by AI. The only real choice is whether that change is deliberate or accidental.

Staffrooms are split. Parents have questions. Boards want answers. Assessment is under real pressure.

That’s why I run year-long partnerships, now in their third year. The results are similar every time: a shared language for AI, assessment that holds its integrity, parents who trust your approach, and a board with its answers.

Where to start

Three steps, at your school’s pace.

  1. Start here

    The 4-Minute AI Check

    Free. Twenty quick questions, instant results, and your school’s top three AI priorities for the year ahead.

    Take the AI Check

  2. Invest in a leader

    Faithfully Forward Cohort

    For Christian school leaders. Six live sessions in Term 1, 2027 that prepare one senior leader, or a team of up to three, to guide your school’s AI conversation.

    See the cohort

  3. Change the culture

    A year-long partnership

    Your whole staff, and your whole community, moving in the same direction. Start with a single Equip day, or partner for the year.

Single day

Equip

One full day at your school. A strong way to start the conversation and get your staff thinking clearly about AI.

  • A planning call before the day
  • One full day on site
  • Up to four sessions from the menu
  • Fully credited if you move to a partnership within 30 days

Best for schools starting the conversation, or testing the waters before a partnership.

Ask about Equip

Year-long partnership

Foundations

Every staff member on the same page. A shared language, practical skill and a clear direction, built and measured across a full year.

  • Goal-setting with your leadership team
  • Staff pre and post surveys, with a written report
  • A review of your AI policy
  • Two PD days
  • Leadership check-ins across the year

Best for schools ready to bring every staff member along, with change you can measure.

Ask about Foundations

Year-long partnership

Formation

Foundations equips your staff. Formation brings your whole community with you: staff, students, parents, leaders and board.

  • Everything in Foundations
  • Coaching for your principal or deputy
  • A seat on your AI working group
  • A board briefing and an impact report
  • A parent evening and a student session
  • Copies of Wise AI for your senior leaders

Best for schools wanting parents, students, leaders and board on the journey together.

Ask about Formation

The guarantee

You’re not buying PD days. You’re investing in change you can see.

Every partnership begins and ends with a staff survey measuring confidence and clarity with AI. If the second survey doesn’t show a measurable shift, I’ll run an extra practical session for your staff at no cost.

Five partnership places in 2027PD days book six months aheadSchools partnering together receive a network discount

The PD menu

Sessions your staff will actually use.

Every school starts with AI and Christian Education. Everything else builds on it.

AI and Christian Education

Three one-hour sessions that give your whole staff a common understanding of AI and a shared vocabulary. Philosophy: a theological framework for navigating AI. Principles: how we use AI wisely, and where we draw the line. Practices: great resources in less time.

Best for: whole staff. The recommended first step for every school.

Building Teacher AI Capability

Tool training tells teachers which buttons to press, then leaves them alone with the bigger questions. Capability is four things: pedagogical judgement, practical skill, ethical reasoning and technical understanding. This session shows what each looks like in a real classroom, and how to find the one your staff are missing.

Best for: whole staff, leadership teams and system leads.

Faithful Assessment

A practical framework for deciding when AI is prohibited, permitted or expected, and the harder argument underneath. The goal isn’t to make AI misuse impossible by design, but illogical by desire.

Best for: secondary staff, curriculum and assessment leaders.

Teaching the AI Generation

Ten things every student should know about AI, in language they accept. How the tools actually work, the ways AI gets things wrong, and why nobody pays a mate twenty dollars to do their workout.

Best for: student sessions, whole staff and parent evenings.

Building Practical Skill

My most hands-on session. Role, Task, Format prompting, how to iterate so the output carries your judgement, what should never be uploaded, and use cases teachers can try the same afternoon.

Best for: whole-staff PD days and leadership teams.

Managing Complex AI Change

Stewarding change well means stewarding people well. How to read your community before you write a plan for it, why AI is not an IT problem, and how to anchor every decision to your vision, mission and values.

Best for: leadership teams, boards and principals’ conferences.

Not sure where your school should start? Take the 4-Minute AI Check and get your top three AI priorities for the coming year.

Also available: parent evenings, AI policy and governance, Artificial Intelligence, Real Literacy, and sessions made to order for your school.

AI for Better Basics eBook by Paul Matthews, shown on a tablet

Free eBook

AI for Better Basics

My TEDx thesis, updated for 2026.

New technology doesn’t need to do new things. It can do the basics better. This short guide shows busy teachers how to use AI for the evidence-based fundamentals: text differentiation, retrieval practice, rubrics and sharper prompting.

What used to take ninety minutes now takes five.

Paul Matthews in a school library
Paul giving a University of Tasmania graduation address
Paul presenting to a conference audience

About

Hi, I’m Paul.

Teaching runs in my family. I’m the third generation to stand in front of a classroom.

Every generation of teachers has had to work out what a new technology means for learning. Ours has to navigate AI.

I use it every day and I love what it makes possible. But I also see what it can cost us if we’re not careful. School isn’t about producing work. It’s about producing a person.

Over the last few years I’ve helped thousands of educators across Australia, North America, Europe and India think wisely about AI. I’m an author, a TEDx speaker and a Fellow at Baylor University’s Center for School Leadership.

Education is the most human thing we do. I want to help your school keep it that way.

What others have said

Clear, practical and wise.

“For all the doom and gloom regarding AI in education, Paul is the antidote. Evidence-based, positive with excellent real-life examples, it gave a much more grown-up perspective on how smart people can use smart tools.”

Steve Burgess
Urban Strategist and Keynote Speaker

“Paul’s session was nothing short of exceptional. His depth of knowledge, passion for education, and ability to communicate complex ideas with clarity left a lasting impact on our teaching community.”

Sujata Paul
S Chand Publishing, India

“Practical wisdom on how to use AI and learn in ways that give us space to live well!”

Dr Jonathan Eckert
Copple Professor, Baylor University

“Thought provoking and highly practical.”

Al Kingsley MBE
CEO and Multi-Academy Trust Chair

“Clear thinking about the impact of AI on education.”

David de Carvalho
Executive Director, Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn Education

Book Paul

Let’s talk.

  1. Tell me a little about your school or event.
  2. We’ll book a short call to talk through your goals.
  3. We’ll lock in your dates.

PD days book six months ahead, so earlier is better. Prefer email?

Paul speaking at a University of Tasmania graduation ceremony
University of Tasmania graduation address