Australia is gearing up to adopt a nation-wide approach to generative AI in schools, with the release of a draft framework aiming to guide students and teachers in using this next-generation technology responsibly and with human agency in mind. The draft National AI in Schools Framework was developed by a dedicated ‘AI in schools’ taskforce and comprises six core elements: teaching and learning, human and social well-being, transparency, fairness, accountability, and privacy and security. These core ideas are further divided into sets of principles designed to establish clear expectations for safe, responsible, and ethical use of AI tools by students.
The emergence of ChatGPT late last year raised concerns in the Australian education sector, leading to bans in state schools due to fears of its potential use as a plagiarism tool. However, businesses and workers were simultaneously being encouraged to embrace AI to avoid being left behind in the changing landscape of work. Recognizing the significance of generative AI as a skill that should be nurtured, Commonwealth, state, and territory education ministers emphasized the need to adapt to this technology, acknowledging that AI is here to stay.
Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare, emphasized the importance of learning how to grapple with this new technology, comparing it to the adoption of calculators or the internet in the past. The draft framework presents 22 guiding principles for teachers and curriculum designers to appropriately integrate AI into classrooms. It covers various aspects, including using AI for assignments, learning, marking, and other decision-making processes while ensuring accountability, contestability, and privacy.
Among the guiding principles are the need for generative AI to have a positive impact on teaching and learning outcomes, to uphold academic integrity by providing fair and unbiased evaluations of students’ performance, and to be well-understood before their implementation. The framework also addresses issues such as human agency, copyright, cultural appropriation, accountability, and privacy.
Furthermore, the principles highlight requirements that developers of generative AI products must meet to be considered acceptable for use in schools. These requirements involve ethical sourcing and building of datasets, transparency in practices, awareness and management of potential bias, and providing plain-English information about product workings and reliability to consumers.
As Australia embraces generative AI as an integral skill for the future, the implementation of this framework aims to ensure that students use AI for positive purposes while safeguarding their privacy and academic integrity. By nurturing responsible and ethical use of AI in schools, Australia aims to prepare its students for the technological challenges and opportunities of the future.
