With artificial intelligence (AI) racing into classrooms faster than the research can keep up, Australia’s national evidence body has a clear message for schools: let learning science, not hype, lead.
Released today by the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO), two new explainers on the use of AI in schools provide “an overview of the emerging evidence base and considerations for policymakers, school leaders and teachers.”
“Students are already using AI for help with their schoolwork, including using it to find information, support learning or translation, and for writing or editing,” AERO CEO Dr Jenny Donovan said in a statement. “Emerging evidence on AI points to both potential opportunities, such as supporting teachers with planning, scaffolding and workload reduction, but risks too.”
Read more: Understanding what AI is, and what it is not
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the Education Department is taking these risks seriously.
“We know a lot of teachers and parents are worried that students are using AI to do the thinking for them. That’s not learning,” Clare told The Educator. “I’m not making an argument against technology in schools; students need to learn digital skills, and that includes how to use and not use AI… but I think there is an argument to wind it back a bit.”
Clare said there is also evidence that children retain information in their long-term memory more effectively when they write it down by hand.
“That’s why Education Ministers have sought advice on whether next year’s NAPLAN test should be done with pen and paper,” he said. “It’s part of a bigger issue Education Ministers are looking at, and it will be on the agenda when Education Ministers next meet.”
Read more: AI in schools: who wins, who loses?
Dr Donovan said AI’s greatest strength could also be its biggest weakness in the classroom.
“While AI can generate content, solve problems and complete tasks on demand, the flipside is that it can lead to students outsourcing the essential cognitive processes that lead to learning.”
AERO said decisions about whether, when and how AI is used in schools should be “grounded in a sound understanding of how students learn”, particularly how they acquire, retain and apply knowledge.
Among the key considerations for teachers and school leaders are putting evidence-based teaching first, keeping a close eye on any risks to learning, and helping students build strong foundational knowledge, metacognitive strategies and self-regulation skills.
Schools are being encouraged to set “clear, schoolwide expectations” for AI use, rethink their approaches to assessment and feedback, and apply “a culturally responsive and reflexive lens” that respects First Nations knowledges.
Regulation needed, but not a knee-jerk ban
Andy Mison is the President of the Australian Secondary Principals' Association (ASPA), the peak national body that represents and supports more than 2,200 public combined and secondary school principals across Australia.
Mison believes it’s timely for Australia to consider some regulation around the use of AI.
“[Regulation] can help us understand what the research is telling us about it before we rush headlong into a potentially dangerous AI universe,” Mison told The Educator.
“I’m mindful about how we launched into smartphone use around 2012–2013 before properly understanding its impacts on young people and their learning, and we’ve been seeing the negative results of that.”
Mison pointed out that Australia has only recently put regulations in place regarding what is safe for kids to have access to online.
“My colleagues and I have welcomed the social media ban, which we believe is a step in the right direction,” he said. “I think it’s now a good time to review how we’re using AI in education, but let’s not impose knee-jerk blanket rules.”
Mison said if restrictions are introduced, they must be introduced in consultation and collaboration with school leaders and teachers.
“Most teachers are using tech in meaningful ways, and we don’t want any unintended consequences of rashly throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” he said.
“Let’s slow down, and let education be part of [the] broader conversation and debate around the role that AI and technology more broadly has in our schools; but let’s also move through that based on the evidence, sensibly and methodically.”
Mison added that this should not be “yet another thing that schools have to manage without being consulted and supported”.
Education policymakers urged to act
AERO is urging policymakers to develop clear, evidence-informed guidance on AI, back schools with quality tools and capability building, and invest in ongoing research. The education evidence body’s review found the existing evidence is thin, with most studies short-term, conducted overseas, focused on engagement rather than learning, and rarely set in primary schools.
“AI is a pressing issue for Australian educators and AERO will continue to monitor the evidence and provide updated guidance as the evidence base strengthens and matures,” Dr Donovan said. “What we do have, however, is a strong, well-established evidence base on how students learn, and that gives us a sound place to start.
Dr Donovan said the science of learning offers schools a reliable compass in the meantime.
“This knowledge can help teachers and school leaders make informed decisions about whether AI can meaningfully support the learning process or whether established teaching approaches remain the better choice.”