The Learning to Be Human Framework
Nine human capabilities. A shared language for strengthening them through everyday learning and work in an AI-shaped world.
For educators, parents and leaders developing the next generation.
Build on what you already do.
Human capability grows when we ask questions, make choices, work through disagreements and respond to feedback.
The framework helps educators, parents and workplace mentors recognise these opportunities, name the capabilities being practised and strengthen them through existing lessons, conversations, projects and responsibilities.
A shared language makes that development easier to discuss, reflect on and carry into new situations, at every stage of learning.
Start with what you already do. Make the human learning within it more intentional.
Preparation starts before the technology.
Children and young people can develop the capabilities to use AI thoughtfully before using it themselves.
These foundations grow through play and conversation, classroom inquiry, university projects and workplace mentoring. Across every stage, the aim is to practise thinking, building relationships and making decisions with increasing independence.
As AI becomes part of learning and work, those capabilities need continued practice in new and unfamiliar contexts.
Build the judgement before handing over the keys. Keep strengthening it afterwards.
THE NINE CAPABILITIES
Nine capabilities. Three connected domains.
Choose a setting to explore practical examples.
Use these examples within existing activities. Adapt the challenge and support to the learner.
Self
How we understand and manage ourselves.
Presence
Managing attention and emotions so we can engage thoughtfully.
Why it matters with AI
Instant answers can make it tempting to move past difficulty before understanding develops. Presence helps learners manage attention, notice frustration and stay with a problem long enough to think it through.
During a challenging classroom task, help a child notice frustration and choose a way to refocus.
Ask: “What would help you take the next step?”
Agency
Making intentional choices, taking initiative and accepting responsibility.
Why it matters with AI
AI can suggest what to do next. Agency helps learners set their own goals, decide when assistance is useful and take responsibility for choices made with it.
Within a classroom activity, let children choose an approach and explain their choice.
Ask: “What will you try first, and why?”
Judgement
Weighing evidence, considering context and making thoughtful decisions.
Why it matters with AI
A convincing AI answer may still contain errors, bias or missing context. Judgement helps learners check evidence, question assumptions and explain why an answer deserves their trust.
In a story discussion or science activity, ask children to explain the evidence behind an answer.
Ask: “What makes you think that?”
Society
How we relate, collaborate and contribute.
Connection
Understanding others, building trust and developing meaningful relationships.
Why it matters with AI
AI can simulate attentive conversation. Connection helps learners build relationships with people through mutual care, boundaries and the experience of navigating different needs, perspectives and disagreements.
During a disagreement, help children ask about another person’s experience.
Ask: “What could you ask to understand how they feel?”
Collaboration
Combining perspectives and strengths to work towards a shared goal.
Why it matters with AI
Working through separate AI assistants can keep thinking private and assumptions unchallenged. Collaboration brings ideas into the open, helping people question one another, combine perspectives and develop shared understanding.
During group work, help children agree how everyone will contribute.
Ask: “How will you hear everyone’s ideas?”
Impact
Using our capabilities to make a meaningful contribution to others.
Why it matters with AI
AI makes it easier to produce more. Impact helps learners ask what is worth doing, whose needs they can serve and whether their work makes a useful difference.
Within a classroom responsibility or group activity, help a child identify something they can do that benefits someone else.
Ask: “What could you do that would help?”
Future
How we adapt, imagine and see connections.
Adaptability
Adjusting our thinking and approach in response to change and feedback.
Why it matters with AI
AI is reshaping how we learn, work and relate to one another. Adaptability helps learners navigate ongoing technological and social change, reconsider familiar approaches and keep learning as roles and expectations shift.
When an approach does not work, encourage another attempt with a deliberate adjustment.
Ask: “What could you change this time?”
Creative Innovation
Using curiosity and imagination to develop, test and improve ideas.
Why it matters with AI
AI can offer ideas quickly. Creative innovation helps learners move beyond the first suggestion, draw on their own experiences and develop a distinctive response through exploration, testing and refinement.
Within a making or imagining activity, encourage more than one possible approach.
Ask: “What is another way you could do this?”
Systems Thinking
Understanding how different parts influence one another and shape wider outcomes.
Why it matters with AI
An AI tool can improve one task while changing work and learning elsewhere. Systems thinking helps learners trace those connections, recognise trade-offs and anticipate consequences beyond the immediate result.
When exploring a garden, food chain or classroom routine, trace a connection between its parts.
Ask: “If this changes, what else might change?”
Grounded in familiar practice.
The examples draw on modelling, guided practice, feedback, reflection and increasing independence. The framework gives adults a shared language for connecting these practices with human capability.
These sources inform the teaching and learning approaches illustrated here. They do not validate or endorse the Learning to Be Human Framework, which is not an assessment or developmental scale.
Bring the framework to life.
Explore the Learning to Be Human keynote and half-day or full-day workshops for adults developing the next generation.
Tailored to primary, secondary, university and graduate development settings.