Chris Bush

Chris spent a decade teaching economics and commerce in Victorian government secondary schools. As Head of Student Voice and Leadership at University High School, and previously Head of Curriculum and Innovation at Prahran High School, he saw first-hand how stretched resources and growing class sizes left too many students without the individual support they needed.

Determined to find a better way, Chris started experimenting with AI in his own classroom. Together with his students, he co-built an AI tutor called Mitch, designed not as a replacement for teaching, but as a 24/7 learning companion that could give every student the individualised attention that class sizes made impossible.

The results were remarkable. Test scores improved across all cohorts, with the most significant gains among low-socioeconomic status and English as an Additional Language students, precisely the students who had traditionally had least access to individualised support. For the first time, every student in Chris's class had access to expert-level tutoring, regardless of their family's resources.

That success led to a Churchill Fellowship in 2024, taking Chris to the United States, Canada, England and Finland to investigate how AI can revolutionise education and address the equity gap in Australian schools. He met with educators, policymakers, and technologists at the forefront of AI integration, from Google DeepMind in London to Yale University and leaders within the Chicago Public School District.

Today, Chris works with schools and businesses across Australia, bringing internationally informed, evidence-based AI strategies to organisations ready to move beyond the hype. He has trained over 1,000 educators, partnered with AFL clubs including Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows, and spoken at national summits and international conferences. His work is guided by a simple belief: AI should amplify what's best about human expertise, not replace it.