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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Dire need for AI support in primary, intermediate schools survey shows
A NZ Council for Education Research survey of teachers and students found that there was "a dire need" for guidance on best practice for AI in schools. Photo: UnSplash/ Taylor Flowe Primary school children say using AI sometimes feels like cheating and teachers warn their "Luddite" colleagues are "freaking out" about the technology. The insights come from an NZ Council for Education Research survey that warns primary and intermediate schools need urgent support for using Artificial Intelligence in the classroom. The council said its survey of 266 teachers and 147 pupils showed "a dire need" for guidance on best practice. It found teachers were experimenting with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT for tasks like lesson planning and personalising learning materials to match children's interests and skills, and many of their students were using it too though generally at home rather than in the classroom. But the survey of teachers and also found most primary schools did not have AI policies. "Teachers often don't have the appropriate training, they are often using the free models that are more prone to error and bias, and there is a dire need for guidance on best practice for using AI in the primary classroom," report author David Coblentz said. Coblentz said schools needed national guidance and students needed lessons in critical literacy so they understood the tools they were using and their in-built biases. He said in the meantime schools could immediately improve the quality of AI use and teacher and student privacy by avoiding free AI tools and using more reliable AI. The report said most of the teachers who responded to the survey said they had noted mistakes in AI-generated information. Most believed less than a third of their pupils, or none at all, were using AI for learning but 66 percent were worried their students might become too reliant on the technology. Most of the mostly Year 7-8 students surveyed in four schools had heard of AI, and less than half said they had never used it. Those who did use AI mostly did so outside of school. "Between one-eighth and one-half of users at each school said they asked AI to answer questions "for school or fun" (12%-50%). Checking or fixing writing attracted moderate proportions everywhere (29%-45%). Smaller proportions used AI for idea generation on projects or homework (6%-32%) and for gaming assistance (12%-41%). Talking to AI "like a friend" showed wide variation, from one in eight (12%) at Case A to nearly half (47%) at the all-girls' Case D," the survey report said. Across the four schools, between 55 and 72 percent agreed "Using AI sometimes feels like cheating" and between 38 and 74 percent agreed "Using AI too much can make it hard for kids to learn on their own". Roughly a quarter said they were better at using AI tools than the grown-ups they knew. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Watch: AI will aid with NCEA replacement, Education Minister says
Education Minister Erica Stanford has fronted media from her old high school after the government proposed to replace all levels of NCEA . Under the proposal, NCEA level 1 would be replaced with foundation literacy and numeracy tests . Levels 2 and 3 would be replaced with a New Zealand Certificate of Education and an Advanced Certificate. Students would be required to take five subjects and pass at least four to get each certificate. Marking would be out of 100 and grades would and range from A to E. Teachers' unions are cautiously optimistic the changes will work, provided they are implemented and resourced well. Stanford fielded questions at Auckland's Rangitoto College, a school she attended, and her children now go to. Education Minister Erica Stanford visits Rangitoto College, Auckland, 5 August 2025. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel Stanford said the cost of the changes had mostly been budgeted already through previous Budget announcements. She said there is already a reform process in place, which the government is using and shifting across. "There will likely be future budgets when we're looking at the feed pathways, the vocational pathways, we know there will be a little bit there," she said. "But we're gearing up for that right now for next year's Budget." Education Minister Erica Stanford visits Rangitoto College, Auckland, 5 August 2025. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel Stanford said New Zealand will continue to use AI as a marking tool, as it already been used for literacy and numeracy corequisite exams. "We're extraordinarily advanced in terms of the rest of the world," she said. "Many other countries can't even dream of where we're at the moment - digital exams, AI marking." AI marking was as good, if not better than human marking, she said. Stanford said the tool would be crucial to moving away from NCEA Level 1. "You've got to remember we are dropping Level 1 so there is a whole year of internal and external assessments that will go all together," she said. "If we didn't have AI, this is something that probably wouldn't be possible without a massive injection for NZQA. "But we do have AI, it is coming, and it is getting better and better every year ... and I'm confident that will help (teachers) mark quicker." Education Minister Erica Stanford visits Rangitoto College, Auckland, 5 August 2025. Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel Stanford hoped the changes would make it easier for students, but also parents to understand the grading of an assessment. "There's a couple ways we're using the word 'standard'. Essentially, the way we want to be using it now is the standard is the curriculum," she said. "Teachers will be very used to marking an assessment, or an essay for example as a mark out of 100 ... it does give a lot more clarity to students on how they can improve, and also to parents really importantly." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Shoe-box sized device helps growers detect diseases
The two-year trial at Pukekohe involving BioScout units aims to help growers make better disease management decisions. Photo: Supplied A new device is helping growers detect diseases out of thin air. The two-year trial at Pukekohe involving BioScout units aims to help growers make better disease management decisions. Three of the shoe box-sized units have been set up by Te Ahikawariki Vegetable Industry Centre of Excellence (VICE) with support from Vegetables New Zealand Inc, Onions NZ and Potatoes New Zealand. They sit upon a stand and are powered by solar panels. A small intake on the front of the machine collects air samples which pass over a bit of tape. Daniel Sutton, research development and extension manager for Vegetables New Zealand, explained a microscopic camera take images of the particles - such as pollen or fungal spores - which are stuck to the tape and then analysed by artificial intelligence to see if they carry disease. "What we're doing is using this tool to evaluate the amount of disease spores in the air and we're looking at ground truthing that in terms of the range of different vegetable crops that we grow in the area - potatoes, onions, lettuce, brassicas, carrots and the like," Sutton said. "We're trying to evaluate what we're seeing in the machine versus what we're seeing in the crop." Sutton said this tool would help "fill in the gap" around the pathogen and provide a continual flow of information of what disease is around and how much of it. "Disease infection 101 is you need a susceptible host, you need the environment to be favourable for the disease to infect and you need the pathogen to be present." He said it will help them identify some of the "big" diseases like target spot in potatoes and white mould in carrots. It was an "exciting" example of how technology was helping the sector. Sutton said, if they worked as expected, the hope was to establish a network of such BioScout units across major vegetable growing regions in the country. There are about 20 such units across the country, with arable farmers and grape growers having also adopted the tech. "If they can all talk and connect to one another than we'd actually have a nationwide network looking for these key diseases for us." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
