Go to school on AI to ease teacher load, treasurer told
Jacob Shteyman |
Schools should use artificial intelligence to ease the load on teachers and tackle educational inequity, the government’s productivity adviser says.
The Productivity Commission also recommended financial incentives for businesses to train workers and to reduce barriers to occupational training in the fourth of five reports it is releasing ahead of the government’s economic reform roundtable.
Building the nation’s skills base is an important part of turning around Australia’s ailing productivity performance, the commission found.
“A thriving, adaptable workforce will give us the productivity growth we need to see higher wages and better living standards,” deputy chair Alex Robson said.
“As the pace of change in work and technology continues to accelerate, we need to ensure that workers can acquire the skills they’ll need to thrive.”
The federal government should provide “national leadership” on educational technology and AI in schools, the report recommended.
It is hoped the changes would arrest the decline in Australians’ foundational skills, which allow workers to learn new abilities and are essential to improving productivity.
National education bodies should establish a framework for assessing the quality of edtech tools, undertake a stocktake of what tools are being used and recommend tools for teachers across Australia to use, the commission said.
State and territory governments were told to provide professional development and support for teachers to adopt and use AI tools effectively.
The report urged the government to create a single nationwide online platform of planning materials for teachers across all states and territories to access.
This would particularly help teachers in remote areas or who instruct classes outside of their field of expertise.
Promoting the use of AI in schools was one of the recommendations put forward by ChatGPT owner OpenAI in an economic blueprint for Australia released by the Silicon Valley-based tech giant in June.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the report, saying the government was grateful for the commission’s work “in helping us think through some of the big challenges in our economy”.
“The reason that our government is obsessed with productivity in our economy is because it’s the best way to lift living standards over time,” he said, as he prepared for his roundtable of business, unions, experts and civil society next week.
“Our investments and reforms to boost our human capital are a big part of that, helping workers around the country earn more and keep more of what they earn.
“As a Labor government, we’ll always back and invest in our workers to make sure we build the human capital and skills we need to grasp the opportunities of the defining decade ahead.”
While the summit provides a good opportunity for the government to tackle the challenges facing the nation’s economy, it came with risks as well, said Zareh Ghazarian, head of Monash University’s politics and international relations discipline.
“The challenge for the government will be how it manages the expectation that this event will make a real and positive impact on the community,” he said.
“Politically, entertaining questions on tax reform and productivity may be challenging for the Albanese government, especially as some arguments may go against its policy preferences.”
AAP
