Steiner Education Australia, one of the country's major alternative school systems, has ruled out building its own artificial intelligence tool for teachers and students, even as public school systems in New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland roll out generative-AI platforms.
CEO Andrew Hill said the network of more than 40 schools would not follow those jurisdictions. "Anything which is going to compromise healthy growth of the brain, we would take a cautionary view towards," he said.
The decision comes as early research suggests over-reliance on AI reduces independent problem solving and critical thinking. Last week, the NSW government announced it would consider banning take-home assessments as part of a broader review into AI's impact on student learning.
Teachers and students push back
Data from the OECD shows most Australian teachers have at least experimented with AI. In a 2024 education report, two-thirds of Australian teachers reported using it in their work - the fourth highest proportion among the organisation's 38 member countries.
Some teachers are scaling back their use. A south-east Queensland primary school teacher, who asked not to be named, said he stopped using AI to generate reading materials because of the way it sounded.
"I used it a bit last year to create things to read from, like an example paragraph to practise reading," he said. "And then I noticed it has that AI voice. I really started to notice it, and I thought 'this isn't great', I don't want kids to learn how to read through this really sterile way of using language."
Students are also protesting. In June, high school and university students demonstrated outside the construction site of a new data centre on the Sunshine Coast, citing environmental concerns and fears about shrinking job prospects for young people.
Concerns over cognitive 'offloading'
University of Queensland Education Psychology Professor Jason Lodge said cognitive "offloading" was the biggest risk of embedding AI deeper into schools.
"The brain in many ways is like the body. The harder you work it, the better it gets at doing what it does," he said. "And AI provides shortcuts that mean some students are not doing the work that's necessary."
But he said those shortcuts could also help. "If you're writing something, not necessarily in English class and grammar and spelling is not a key part of the lesson, then maybe it's OK if we're getting an AI tool to help with structuring grammar and correcting spelling," Lodge added.
Queensland's Department of Education uses a generative AI tool called Corella, available to teachers and students in years 7-10 with parental consent. A spokesperson said Corella was built around a Socratic teaching method that guides students "rather than instantly providing them with full, direct responses".
At the Samford Valley Steiner School north-west of Brisbane, director Andrew Curry teaches year 10 trigonometry by taking students to a nearby creek with surveying instruments called theodolites. "They're creating a map with traditional techniques," he said. "[It] could be done with drones and AI in probably half the time, but the students wouldn't get all of that richness of learning in that time. They'd just get a map."
Teachers looking to understand where AI fits in their own practice can explore AI for Teachers Courses, which covers practical classroom applications and risk management. For those working with younger students, AI for Primary School Teachers addresses age-appropriate use and safeguarding concerns.
One school builds its own assistant
Not every school is holding back. The Islamic College of Brisbane, an independent school, is designing an in-house AI assistant called Aladin. CEO Ali Kadri, who is also a tech entrepreneur, said the tool would generate learning materials and predict students' likely future performance based on past grades and attendance.
"If we identify the student is going to do worse than what they've been doing so far, then the machine learning model will trigger an alert … a staff member will then intervene and assign a strategy to address that issue," he said. "I think it … gives teachers superpowers."
Head of junior secondary Vincent Parry said he was initially a sceptic but now encourages students to use AI to simplify explanations they don't understand - particularly helpful for students learning English as a second language. "Once you take control of it rather than let it take control of you, it's a very valuable tool," he said.
Kadri sees AI eventually changing the teaching profession itself. "I think there is a world where education looks like a teacher going into a classroom full of students and instead of delivering content, they'll be mentoring and coaching students while they learn, study and thrive."
Curry disputes that vision. "You might get results, but you wouldn't get understanding. And the difference is where is your focus? Is your focus on passing a test? On accessing uni? Or is your focus on the student actually understanding the content that's being presented to them?"
Why this matters for educators
The debate is no longer about whether AI appears in classrooms - two-thirds of Australian teachers have already used it. The practical question is where to draw the line. Teachers can use AI to reduce administrative load and generate materials, but the research and classroom experience cited here suggests letting it replace core thinking work carries measurable risks. Schools and individual teachers need to decide which tasks benefit from automation and which require the cognitive effort that builds independent thinkers.
Your membership also unlocks:
