School students across Australia will be blocked from using generative AI in class and during assessments under a plan to crack down on excessive screen use in classrooms and reverse a generational decline in reading and maths scores. Source: The Australian.
Education ministers this week agreed to “set or consider” screen limits in schools and establish a new “Digital Detox Taskforce”, which will provide advice to governments on addressing digital device use in schools.
Education ministers have ordered an overhaul of the entire national primary maths curriculum, extending the kindergarten to year 2 review to include years 3 to year 6.
A new kindergarten to year 2 maths curriculum, to be rolled out from next year, will “explicitly prioritise essential knowledge” and sequence content to guarantee young children master foundational maths concepts.
Amid revelations that Australian children are taught basic maths skills two years later than their peers in top-performing countries, education ministers have agreed to a snap review of the year 3 to 6 maths curriculum, with plans to teach the new content from 2028.
Screen limits in schools are also set to be considered, as the Albanese Government warns that children who spend more time at school in front of screens “do worse than those who don’t”.
In a speech to the McKell Institute this morning, federal Education Minister Jason Clare will say screens are frying students’ attention spans while raising alarm that AI is causing “cognitive stunting”.
“I’m not talking about burning iPads but I am talking about dialling it back,” Mr Clare will say.
Primary school students will be blocked from using generative AI in classrooms, while high school students will be restricted from using it during assessments.
Ministers have also agreed to ditch online NAPLAN testing for primary schools and revert to pen and paper exams.
Mr Clare will say a new Australian Schools Digital Detox Taskforce will collect evidence and survey parents and teachers on digital devices in schools and provide advice to government mid next year.
It is to be led by an independent expert with representatives from the states and territories, private and Catholic school sectors, principal associations, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation and four major education agencies.
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Australian schools to ban generative AI in major classroom screen crackdown (By Lucy Carroll, The Australian)
