Deputy Principal | AI & Leadership Strategist | Keynote Speaker
Helping schools and leaders move beyond shortcuts to build human-centered innovation that matters.
Laurietta Goosen is Deputy Principal at Assumption Convent School in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she leads academic strategy, innovation, and staff development for an all-girls high school.
As a published LinkedIn voice on AI in education, she has been invited to speak at educational conferences including the Schoolscape Academic Roadshow, where her keynote "AI as a Mirror, Not a Shortcut: Leading with Purpose in an Age of Disruption" challenged leaders to see AI not as a tool for efficiency, but as a catalyst for deeper questions about trust, equity, and what schools choose to protect.
Her work is grounded in a simple conviction: AI should not be the disruption. Our redesign should be. She believes schools must move beyond policy and detection to ask harder questions about what learning is for, what leadership requires, and what it means to remain deeply human in a world becoming increasingly automated.
Laurietta's approach is shaped by Gospel values, the work of Brené Brown, Peter Liljedahl's Building Thinking Classrooms, and collaboration with thought leaders including Dan Fitzpatrick and Dr. Sabba Quidwai through Project Momentum.
This keynote moves beyond tools and tactics to explore the deeper leadership questions AI forces us to confront. Through the lenses of Time, Trust, and Equity, Laurietta challenges school leaders to see AI not as a productivity hack, but as a mirror reflecting where our systems prioritize speed over substance, polish over depth, and efficiency over human connection.
Designed for educational leaders navigating uncertainty, this talk offers frameworks for making strategic decisions about AI that align with institutional values, protect what matters most, and prepare schools to lead change rather than react to it.
Moving beyond detection and policy to create classrooms where students choose thinking over shortcuts because the work matters.
Why schools need clarity about who they are before they can decide how AI should be used, and what must remain non-negotiable.
How school leaders can use AI to reduce administrative burden while protecting the relationships, judgment, and courage that technology cannot replace.
Published articles exploring AI, leadership, learning, and what schools must protect and redesign.
While many educators are cautiously exploring what AI means for the classroom, school leaders have a responsibility to use these tools to improve how schools run. When used thoughtfully, AI can reduce administrative burden, improve communication, and give leaders more time to focus on strategy and relationships.
Read on LinkedIn →AI has exposed where speed is valued over substance, where polish is rewarded more than depth, and where people are under so much pressure to produce that they are willing to hand over the thinking itself.
Read on LinkedIn →The real question is not only how AI should be used. It is what kind of people, institutions, and culture are being shaped as it is used. Are we rewarding speed more than wisdom? Are we becoming more thoughtful, or just more efficient?
Read on LinkedIn →When redesign is driven by urgency rather than clarity, it becomes reactive and fragmented. The schools that will thrive in the years ahead will not be the ones with the most tools. They will be the ones with the clearest sense of who they are.
Read on LinkedIn →When answers can be generated in seconds, when polished language is cheap, and when completion is often rewarded more visibly than struggle, it should not surprise us that many students are tempted to hand over the thinking itself.
Read on LinkedIn →Interested in booking a keynote, exploring consulting opportunities, or continuing the conversation?