Australian educators are adopting artificial intelligence at rates higher than their international peers, but concerns about academic integrity and bias remain central as schools navigate the shift.
About two in three lower secondary teachers and around one in two primary teachers reported using AI in the classroom, according to the latest cycle of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). The data suggest younger teachers are more likely to embrace the technology.
Dr Tim Friedman, senior research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and lead author of the TALIS 2024 report, said teachers mainly use AI to learn or summarise topics and to generate lessons and plans. Compared with their overseas counterparts, Australian teachers are more likely to use AI to automatically adjust the difficulty of lesson materials to suit students’ learning needs.
Benefits and concerns
Most lower secondary teachers said AI can help write or improve lesson plans, enable teachers to adapt learning materials to different students’ abilities, and assist teachers in supporting students individually, TALIS found.
However, more than four in five lower secondary teachers said they are concerned AI allows students to present others’ work as their own and can make recommendations that are not appropriate or correct, according to a Teacher magazine infographic by Russell and Earp. More than half said it can amplify biases that reinforce students’ misconceptions.
Addressing challenges
ACER research fellow Bethany Davies examined common challenges and potential strategies for educators. Davies said prevention should take priority, as educators are operating in an uncharted educational environment that teachers and students are still learning to navigate.
She noted that even routine tasks, such as using tools like Microsoft Copilot to refine grammar and phrasing, now involve careful judgement. She said redefining originality in the context of AI would require substantial investment in skills development and critical thinking for both teachers and students, as well as clear, shared boundaries developed through collaboration and co-design with students.
On inappropriate recommendations, Davies pointed to the importance of critical thinking skills. Former ACER colleague Dr Katie Richardson shared an example of a maths teacher using ChatGPT to demonstrate mathematical misconceptions to students. “ChatGPT replicates, the data sources that it draws from replicate the common misconceptions in maths,” Richardson said in a podcast special with Teacher editor Jo Earp.
Davies said algorithmic bias could be addressed through genuine human connection, citing an example of students researching current events and discovering how personalised algorithms shape sharply different perspectives.
Among teachers not using AI, three-quarters said they lack the skills and knowledge to teach with it, while two-fifths said schools should not be using AI in teaching, TALIS reported.