There is a national push to outsource school teachers’ administrative tasks to artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to ease unmanageable workloads.
The government’s Productivity Commission report released overnight floated the idea of educators in every state harnessing AI to lessen the “administrative burden” many teachers face.
It looked at how to best introduce a national approach for AI in Australia’s school system to cut out hours of busy work.
In 2023, the same report claimed full-time teachers spent an average of 15 hours per week planning lessons and marking.
This year, the report found generative AI and educational technology (edtech) could redirect teacher efforts back to students, particularly those living in disadvantaged areas.
AI could also be used to transform learning material, adapt city-focused lesson plans to reflect local or regional context or scale content depending on student ability, the report noted.
“Well-implemented generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and other technologies have tremendous potential to support students who are falling behind, and challenge those who are ahead,” the report states.
“We propose a national approach to advanced educational technology.”
One trial found AI saved teachers nine and a half hours of admin work every week.
Each Australian state and territory has been adapting to AI in various ways.
South Australia, NSW and Queensland have been testing a chatbot tool for teachers and students in public schools.
WA is still developing a tool, while Victoria only provides guidance to teachers about AI.
Tasmania and the territories do not allow AI in schools yet.
“The commonalities in each jurisdiction’s progress with GenAI highlights the need for more coordination,” the report added.
“Not all are progressing at the same rate.
“Access to tools that prove effective for teachers and students should not be defined by what state or territory a school is in.”
In response, the Australian Education Union said the industry needed a significant cut to teacher workload instead of offloading it to AI.
The union called for “real action to end the teacher shortages”.
