Concerns raised over government’s AI in Schools Framework
A leading Australian expert is questioning whether AI can be used ethically in classrooms.
Released last week, a government framework outlines how AI should be used within educational scenarios. However, Deakin University’s Dr Lucinda McKnight says current generative AI is inherently dangerous, opaque, unethical and inequitable.
‘Despite UNESCO’s advice that there is no research on whether AI is needed in education at all, the government’s new Framework for AI in Education ushers in a vast and unprecedented experiment on Australian children,’ she said.
Dr McKnight said the government’s framework places all the onus on schools and teachers to use generative AI safely, transparently, ethically and equitably.
‘All the Framework’s principles assume the use of generative AI. It’s to be hoped the next iteration will wind this back and also start with a more honest definition of what generative AI is. This includes acknowledgement that data, and the datasets training generative AI, are never neutral’.
Dr McKnight said it would also include guidelines for how to assess whether, in each instance, before use, it is appropriate to use generative AI at all.
Report reveals disengaged students disrupt classrooms but experts want more
A Monash University expert says a federal Senate inquiry interim report into disruption in Australian school classrooms released last week doesn’t go far enough.
Dr Erin Leif is a senior lecturer in the School of Educational Psychology & Counselling.
She says the committee’s recommendations largely focus on improving training and professional development for teachers and on national actions related to school reform.
‘However, effective implementation of evidence-based teaching and behaviour management practices in schools requires a comprehensive and supportive school system’, Dr Leif said.
‘Recommendations about ways to establish and strengthen systems within schools were largely absent from the report and its recommendations.
She said providing additional guidance to schools on ways to establish these systems was important.
The Internet is the ‘Wild West’ for children
Researchers are shining a light on the way everyone is able to upload content for ‘for children’ without oversight. They say technology companies can label popular apps, social media and digital resources as ‘educational’ without any scrutiny.
The Manifesto for a Better Children’s Internet is the result of a two-year project by researchers from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. It highlights 17 actionable principles, including the development of quality standards for age-appropriate content and a move away from over reliance on ‘parental control’ and promotion of media literacy.
The manifesto challenges industry, government, and community leaders to take action and improve the internet for children to ensure meaningful change and achieve better outcomes for children.
Climate change is having profound impact on girl’s education in Asia Pacific
Two young Australians from Plan International Australia’s Youth Activist Series will attend the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference – more commonly referred to as COP – to launch new report, For Our Futures: Youth Voices on Climate and Education, and petition for the Albanese government to make a commitment to the UNFCCC Loss and Damage Fund.
Australia’s family payments system is failing women and children
A new research report from the Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) and the University of Melbourne has found the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) system does not meet the needs of low-income families, while creating lifelong barriers to women’s economic security in Australia.
The Growing Pains report found that:
• inadequate payments leave families at risk of poverty;
• reduced coverage leaves some families missing out;
• FTB payments entrench gender roles and create a barrier to equity;
• complex administration and compliance arrangements create risks; and
• high Effective Marginal Tax Rates (EMTRs) create a disincentive for paid work.
BSL wants the federal government to take immediate action to improve adequacy and reduce the administrative risks of the current FTB system by reinstating the indexation of FTB in line with pensions, reviewing shared care arrangements and removing the Maintenance Income Test. Read the full report here.
Most Australians want gambling ads banned
More than two-thirds of Australians believe there is too much gambling advertising in sport and want it to be banned, according to new polling released by the Alliance for Gambling Reform.
The polling, which involved more than 1000 people aged over 18 years, showed more than three-quarters believed there was too much gambling advertising in sport, while more than two-thirds thought gambling advertising should be banned from sport completely.
A copy of the report can be found here.