How generative AI is reshaping New Zealand education

The explosion of generative artificial intelligence is reshaping the way students are taught, assessed, and even how they cheat. As educators scramble to keep up, there are fears about the erosion of critical thinking skills, the lack of a national strategy, and how to detect whether a student’s work is authentic. So how do we harness the emerging technology to prepare young minds for the future? Rachel Maher reports.

It was only a few short years ago that, if a student had left an assignment to the last minute, struggling for an idea or simply could not be bothered, they were out of luck.

Now, all it takes is logging into the likes of ChatGPT, writing a prompt, and the work is spat out for them.

The Herald spoke to principals across the country to gauge their biggest fears around the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and how they are tackling it in schools.

The overwhelming concern was the risk of AI use eroding children’s critical thinking skills. However, they all agreed that they had to incorporate the technology into their teaching.

A professor specialising in the uses and misuses of AI in education said new software to detect it in students’ work could not be trusted, and teachers might need to rethink how they assess pupils’ learning entirely.

The Principals’ Federation is calling on the Government to provide a firmer national strategy, with claims that teachers are “thirsting for knowledge” on how to tackle the perpetually changing landscape.

Meanwhile, the Education Review Office and the Ministry of Education have launched research to guide schools as they try to strike a balance between teaching students to use AI safely and equipping them for the future.

Principals share their AI tactics

So how are our schools coping with the rise of AI?

Wakatipu High School principal Oded Nathan said the school was well prepared for dealing with AI, but his biggest fear was students failing to develop critical thinking skills.

“We’re super cognisant of the changing world. AI is not going to disappear; it’s not going away.

“Our kids are using it, our community’s using it, our business leaders are using it.”

The school had introduced an AI traffic light system – green allowed full use, orange limited use, as outlined in the task instructions, and red banned it.

Teachers had completed two days of training on the framework and how to coach students to use AI healthily. The framework was not about erasing AI, but ensuring it enhanced, rather than replaced, students’ work.

ChatGPT had been removed from the school’s Wi-Fi. As a Google school, it allowed access to Gemini, which had guardrails to stop students from completing entire assessments with AI.

Some schools are banning ChatGPT from the school networks to try to combat the rise of AI. Photo / 123RF

At Papakura High School, principal Simon Craggs said a similar traffic light system had been adopted.

“AI is a tool that is already revolutionising the workplace, and we cannot afford to leave students unprepared for this new reality.”

Staff had received training to build confidence with AI tools.

“Academic misconduct has not yet been a major problem for us and has been relatively easy to pick up because of the teachers’ knowledge of the students.”

At Whangārei Girls’ High School, principal Sonya Locker said AI misuse in lower-stakes assessments had been treated as a “teachable moment”. More serious breaches had been investigated by senior leaders.

“At times, students can give evidence of the authenticity of their work through notes and workings. If the investigation concludes that a breach has occurred, the student is reported to NZQA.”

Ōtūmoetai College principal Russell Gordon said the goal had been to spark a wider conversation about digital literacy and academic responsibility.

“The goal is not to create fear around new technology, but to help students understand how to use emerging tools ethically and appropriately within defined conditions.

“The focus should remain on authentic learning, equitable assessment, and preparing young people to engage responsibly with the technologies shaping their future.”

Software to check for AI is ‘problematic’

Jason Stephens, Auckland University professor of psychological studies in education, who has studied the uses and misuses of AI, said he did not trust “problematic” software designed to check students’ work.

“I’ve heard anecdotal reports of people submitting their own work that they wrote pre-AI and it getting flagged. And it’s really just too easy to manipulate.”

A smart student would run AI-produced work through a programme to make it sound more like their own, he said.

“Whether that’s to run it through a humaniser or make some changes themselves to make sure that there’s a little bit of a human touch in there to throw it off.”

Stephens said the rise of generative AI had transformed the way teachers assessed students’ work.

Fears of an AI echo chamber

AI lead at Deloitte, Dr Amanda Williamson, said it was important to teach students about AI as soon as they began interacting with it.

“For young people and the adults around them, sit with them. Show them what AI actually is and what it is not. Help them build instincts.”

Williamson highlighted a major danger for students using AI: its sycophantic nature.

She said the technology was built to agree with you.

Deloitte artificial intelligence director Dr Amanda Williamson

“It will validate a wrong answer, reinforce a bad assumption and, by default, tell you your work is excellent when it is not.

“An adult with professional experience might catch that. A young person building their understanding of the world may not. Show them that. Let them see it happen.

“That single lesson teaches more about AI than any policy document. That same instinct, knowing when to trust AI output and when to challenge it, is what the workforce needs.”

Principals’ Federation calls for a strategy

New Zealand Principals’ Federation president Jason Miles wanted a firmer strategy on how to use AI in classrooms.

“We need direction from the Government. We need professional learning from the Government about the equity issues around AI, the ethical and privacy issues around using AI, and how we can use it effectively to support students in their teaching and learning.”

He said there was an unfair expectation on teachers and principals to keep up with the changing landscape, including how to detect AI in students’ work, how to use it to create lesson plans and how to incorporate it in student learning.

What does the guidance say?

Rob Mill, the Ministry of Education’s group manager for curriculum, said the department had put out guidance on AI use.

The guidance, first issued in 2024, highlighted the potential for AI to enhance teaching and learning, but warned that its use should be restricted.

It also noted potential cultural biases, saying AI was built on “dominant cultures and languages”.

“The tools may not accurately reflect indigenous knowledge. From a New Zealand context, they are likely to be weak on mātauranga and te reo Māori, as well as Pasifika languages and Polynesian cultures.”

The ministry was working proactively with schools to gather insights on the ever-changing AI landscape.

Ruth Shinoda, the Education Review Office’s acting chief executive and chief review officer, said it was researching how students, teachers and leaders used AI.

“It will also look at the challenges associated with AI use and how schools are responding to these challenges.”

She said the results were expected to be published later this year.

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