Scenario-Based Learning through and with AI: Evidence-Informed Simulations for Education Leaders

This workshop explores how generative AI can strengthen scenario-based learning for the professional development of school and district leaders. Building on IIEP-UNESCO’s work in online and blended learning and Télécom Paris’ expertise in AI-supported learning, we present an approach in which AI not only helps generate context-aware scenarios, but also delivers simulations, prompts reflection, and provides evidence-informed feedback during leadership practice. Participants will experience how AI can place leaders in realistic school situations, invite them to analyse challenges, take decisions, justify their reasoning, and receive coaching-style feedback informed by literature on school leadership, educational planning and management. The workshop also introduces an AI literacy strand for school and district leaders, focused on responsible use, critical judgement, ethics, and leadership for AI integration in education systems. Participants will examine design principles, test simulation formats, and co-design scenarios for leadership learning.

Keywords: scenario-based learning; generative AI; school leadership; AI coaching; professional development; AI literacy; ethics

Introduction

Education systems increasingly need school and district leaders who can make sound decisions in complex environments. Leadership development programmes have used cases and scenarios to foster critical thinking, problem-solving, reflection, and transfer to practice. Such approaches allow participants to work through realistic dilemmas rather than simply absorb abstract principles (Yin, 2015). However, such approaches often depend on intensive facilitation and are therefore difficult to scale across contexts and languages.

Recent advances in generative AI create new possibilities for scenario-based professional learning. AI can now support the creation of context-aware leadership cases, simulate stakeholders through text or voice interactions, adapt prompts to participants’ responses, and provide timely feedback that encourages reflection rather than simply giving an answer. A key challenge is therefore to design AI tools in ways that encourage participants to justify decisions, consider alternatives, and connect their choices to evidence-informed leadership principles. This opens new opportunities for more interactive, personalised, and scalable leadership training. At the same time, international guidance stresses that such uses of AI should remain human-centred, ethically governed, and designed to augment rather than replace professional judgement (UNESCO, 2023).

In this workshop, we will explore how AI can be used not only for designing learning scenarios but also to deliver them: as a simulation partner, reflective coach, and structured feedback tool. We focus on leadership challenges faced by school and district leaders, such as instructional supervision, health and well-being in schools, or communication with parents. We also argue that such approaches must be accompanied by explicit AI literacy training for leaders, so that they can use AI critically, responsibly, and strategically in school management and improvement.

Theme and Goals

The workshop explores how AI can support scenario-based learning and coaching for leadership and management in education. It has four interrelated goals.

First, it aims to show how AI can deliver scenario-based learning through simulations in which school and district leaders respond to realistic cases and receive structured feedback. Second, it examines AI as a training tool that supports reflection, professional judgement, and iterative decision-making rather than simply evaluating performance. Third, it introduces an AI literacy component for education leaders, focused on critical use, ethical judgement, governance, and responsible institutional adoption. Fourth, it invites participants to co-design practical formats and research questions for future use of AI-enabled simulations in leadership development. These goals are aligned with wider work in AI in education, which highlights both the pedagogical opportunities of AI-supported interaction and the need for careful human oversight and sound design (UNESCO, 2023).

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• identify key design principles for AI-supported leadership simulations,

• analyse how AI-generated prompts and feedback can support reflective practice,

• articulate core AI literacy needs for school and district leaders,

• and co-design a short leadership scenario with an accompanying AI-supported feedback sequence.

Table 1. Workshop Timetable