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How UK and Ireland Teachers Join Google’s AI Series

Google opened its free AI Educator Series to 650,000 UK and Ireland educators on 5 October 2026. Steps to enroll, earn badges, and book the Gemini Roadshow.

October 5, 2026 Yum News

On 5 October 2026, Google opened the free Google AI Educator Series to all 650,000 educators in the UK and Ireland. The same program already covers about 6 million educators in the United States and has also expanded to India and Korea.

You do not need a school-wide rollout to start. Self-paced modules sit on the Google for Education Learning Center. Completing a short quiz earns a digital badge. Google also points staff to the Gemini Roadshow for live Educator Series events, and it has partnered with the National Governance Association on an AI policy toolkit for governors and trustees.

This guide covers who can join, how to enroll, how badges work, and where governors fit. Facts come from Google’s 5 October blog post, the Learning Center program page, and the NGA toolkit page.

What opened today

Fiona Law and Grace Kelly, writing on the Google Blog, said the expansion is meant to help school leaders and educators use AI for lesson plans, administrative tasks, and support for different learning needs. Delivery mixes teacher-led virtual and in-person events with a bite-sized curriculum built by educators.

Google cites Public First analysis, published in an earlier Google post on AI in UK education, that almost three quarters (74%) of roles in education have the potential to be enhanced by AI. The same company materials note that 15% of the UK is already saving time with the technology. Google says teachers who complete this series contribute toward the UK government’s goal of training 10 million workers in digital skills by 2030. Those figures are Google’s citations of Public First and its own AI Works for Britain reporting, not an independent audit of classroom time saved.

The series is no-cost. Google for Education states that it funds the training and that teachers are not paid by Google for finishing modules.

If you already started the U.S. catalog, the UK and Ireland expansion uses the same Learning Center structure. The walkthrough in How to Earn Badges in Google’s AI Educator Series still applies to module flow and quiz claims. This article adds the October 2026 country rollout, the Roadshow signup, and the NGA board toolkit.

Empty school classroom with desks facing a whiteboard

Who should enroll

Google addresses the series to educators in the UK and Ireland, not only classroom teachers. On the Learning Center, tracks split by stage:

K-12. Sessions of about 10 to 15 minutes. Often tied to a grade-band problem of practice.
Higher education. Sessions of about 30 to 45 minutes. Faculty use cases, including teaching design and campus admin work.

Three pillars run across both tracks: foundational understanding, pedagogical applications, and administrative applications. Sessions are non-sequential. Google and ISTE+ASCD co-developed the curriculum. Hands-on examples use Gemini for Education and Gemini Notebook, while the stated learning goals cover responsible use that is not locked to one vendor.

School governors and trustees are a separate audience. They do not earn the same teacher badges by downloading a policy PDF. Their path is the NGA toolkit, described below.

Enroll on the Learning Center

Open the Google AI Educator Series page.
Sign in with the Google account you use for school or campus work. Keep training and badges on that same account.
Choose the K-12 or higher-education track.
Open a session that matches a class or task you have this week. Do not start with a random badge.
Complete the short module, then take the quiz from Earn your badge on that session card.
Confirm the badge under the signed-in email. The badge hub is educertifications.google/google-ai-educator-series.

The Learning Center page says new modules release on a monthly cadence (the page lists the first or second Wednesday, depending on the track blurb). Check the catalog rather than assuming a fixed UK drop date.

Google’s UK announcement also links the Google for Education Gemini Roadshow for upcoming Educator Series events. Use that RSVP page for official dates and cities. Education press has described free regional days covering Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Workspace Studio, plus twilight virtual sessions. Treat city lists in news articles as provisional until the RSVP page shows the same stop.

What a badge is, and is not

A badge shows you finished a micro-module and passed its quiz. Google describes the badges as a way to showcase AI literacy on a resume, portfolio, or school site. They are not a UK teaching qualification, a GTC registration, or a substitute for school policy.

K-12 modules are built for a prep period. Higher-ed modules need a longer block. Google does not pay for the time. If your trust counts the hours toward CPD, confirm that with the CPD lead before you log them.

A practical first week:

Day 1. One foundational session and its quiz.
Day 2. One pedagogical session tied to tomorrow’s lesson. Save one prompt you will actually use.
Day 3. Run that prompt on a real task. Note where pupils need a citation rule or an allowed-tool line in the scheme of work.
Day 4. One administrative session (planning, feedback, or parent comms).
Day 5. Share the badge with your coach and book a Roadshow seat if a stop is near your school.

Adults collaborating around laptops in a training session

Watch the official series intro

Google for Education published a short launch film that explains the snackable format and the ISTE partnership. It is the same intro used for the U.S. catalog. The UK expansion uses that curriculum rather than a separate product.

Governors: use the NGA toolkit first

Google says it partnered with the National Governance Association on an AI Policy Toolkit so governors and trustees can adopt policy, tools, and training with more structure. The NGA page, updated in 2026 and marked as developed with Google for Education, lists three downloads:

An AI toolkit with definitions, risks, benefits, tool-selection notes, and questions for boards.
An AI policy builder in Word, with discussion points and examples.
Board discussion slides for the meeting before a policy is drafted.

Start there if you chair a board. A teacher badge does not approve pupil use of a chatbot. The board still needs a written line on data, age, assessment, and staff accounts. NGA also lists a paid workshop, Governing AI, for governors, trustees, and governance professionals. That workshop is separate from the free Educator Series.

Tips before you assign AI work to pupils

Finish one staff module before you set a pupil task that uses Gemini. The series is written for educator judgment, not for unsupervised student accounts.
Keep training on the work Google account. A personal Gmail login will not match a Workspace badge export.
Treat model output as a draft. Ask pupils to show sources when the task is research.
Align any classroom trial with the board policy from the NGA builder, especially if the school uses education accounts.
If you cannot attend a Roadshow stop, use the self-paced Learning Center path the same week. Google says both formats are part of the series.

Conclusion

The 5 October 2026 announcement does not ship a new model. It opens an existing free catalog to UK and Ireland educators, points staff to Gemini Roadshow sign-up, and pairs that training with an NGA toolkit for governors.

Open the Learning Center, complete one 10-to-15-minute K-12 session or one longer higher-ed session, and store the badge on your work account. If you sit on a board, download the NGA toolkit before the next policy review. Then use one classroom workflow from the module in the next lesson, instead of collecting badges you never apply.