Education Ministers Agree to Restrict Generative AI in Primary Schools and Secondary Assessments

Australia’s education ministers have agreed to restrict generative artificial intelligence in primary schools and in secondary school assessments as part of a national “digital detox,” 7NEWS reported. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare announced the package on Thursday after this week’s Education Ministers Meeting, saying the reforms would restrict screen time and the use of AI while strengthening the way the youngest students are taught maths.

“Kids need to learn to think for themselves and there’s some evidence that AI can undermine this by causing cognitive stunting,” Clare said. Under the national agreement, ministers will set or consider screen-time limits in schools across the country, and a new Australian Schools Digital Detox Taskforce will investigate excessive screen use and recommend further action next year. Year 5 NAPLAN writing tests will also return to pen and paper.

Several states are already moving. Victoria and New South Wales plan classroom screen limits from 2027, and Western Australia will run a six-month pilot in 10 public schools from Term 1 restricting unnecessary laptop and iPad use from kindergarten to Year 2. The changes follow September’s PISA results, which showed Australian 15-year-olds still slipping in maths and reading while remaining above the OECD average. The package also folds ACARA, AITSL, the Australian Education Research Organisation and Education Services Australia into a new Australian Teaching and Learning Commission.

What it means in practice

Education Ministers Agree to Restrict Generative AI in Primary Schools and Secondary Assessments — contextual photo

The school move sits awkwardly beside universities’ embrace of the same tools, from UNSW’s campus-wide ChatGPT Edu rollout to fresh survey claims that most students use AI every week. It also extends Canberra’s child-safety agenda, including the duty of care bill banning chatbots that foster children’s emotional dependence. For teachers, the open question is what “restrict” will mean in a classroom: a ban on AI-written assessment tasks, limits on student-facing chatbots, or simply clearer rules on when tools may be used.

What to watch is the taskforce’s terms of reference, whether states adopt shared definitions of permitted AI use, and how the new commission handles AI guidance once the curriculum and teacher-standards bodies sit under one roof.