Estonia’s guided school AI tool cited in New Zealand debate

More than nine in 10 school leaders, four in five teachers and three in four students in New Zealand are using artificial intelligence at school, according to a recent Education Review Office report covering English-medium schools only. Sarah White, a senior researcher at The Helen Clark Foundation, writes that principals are being left with incomplete, scattered guidance as the election approaches.

Teachers are using AI to ease administrative work, plan lessons and tailor material. Students mainly use it to find information, generate ideas and get feedback on drafts. White says well-used AI can free time for direct instruction and relationships, and can support learners with additional needs in ways once limited to the best-resourced schools. Schools are asking for clearer national guidance, more professional development and stronger AI literacy.

Around seven in 10 school leaders told the Education Review Office their school has no active policy covering the privacy and security of teachers’ own use of AI. Where student-use policies exist, fewer than half of teachers and students say they are useful. Two in five secondary students admit using AI for schoolwork in ways they know they should not. One leader in AI governance for schools told White and colleagues: “AI uptake is going nuts, governance is going nowhere, and risk is skyrocketing.”

White lists risks that include exposure of students’ personal data, students skipping productive struggle and critical thinking, hidden learning gaps, dependency on AI, and a wider divide between students whose schools and families can help them use the tools well and those who cannot.

Governments abroad are already acting. Estonia invested in teacher training, then gave senior secondary students access to a purpose-built tool designed to guide student thinking rather than hand over answers. Singapore starts by teaching early primary pupils how AI works and how to use it safely, then gradually introduces use from Year 4. By early 2025, roughly half of US states had published some form of AI guidance for primary and secondary schools.

White says overseas lessons need adapting to New Zealand’s devolved school governance and to obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including how AI tools handle Māori data. She argues central government should do more before 7 November, and that every party should tell parents and teachers what it will do.