Catholic Education South Australia to permit use of ChatGPT in schools

SA Catholic schools will join public schools and universities in allowing students to use new artificial intelligence which instantly writes content – but there’s one exception.

Catholic schools will join government schools in allowing students access to artificial intelligence – except for online exams and other tests.

Catholic Education SA director Dr Neil McGoran said it would follow the Education Department by permitting the use of a new website, ChatGPT, for lessons.

South Australia’s three universities also have decided to permit the use of ChatGPT for assignments, provided it was disclosed by students.

The stance is the reverse of NSW and Queensland, where state education departments have decided to ban the website from schools.

Capable of producing written content on any subject within seconds, ChatGPT has taken the world by storm since it was released last month in the United States.

Catholic Education SA director Neil McGoran.

SA Education Department chief executive Martin Westwell.

Dr McGoran, a former SACE chief executive, was commenting following confirmation by Education Department chief executive Dr Martin Westwell at the weekend that ChatGPT would be accessible in public schools.

Dr Westwell said teachers and students would be encouraged to use AI so they became familiar its capabilities and how it could support learning.

“At this stage, Catholic Education’s approach to ChatGPT will be similar to that outlined by the Department for Education,” said Dr McGoran.

“As always, we will work closely with school leaders to monitor any impact on students’ learning, and to ensure appropriate use and equity of access.”

Dr McGoran said Catholic Education also would “be consistent” with any policy positions ON AI adopted by the SACE Board and Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

SACE controls Year 12 in SA while ACARA is responsible for the national curriculum and NAPLAN.

A SACE Board spokesman said it supported the use of AI in schools, saying it “will inevitably become part of everyday life”.

“To best equip students for the future, it is important that their use of AI is understood as part of their schooling,” he said.

“Rather than ban its use, our focus is to understand how to best use technology to support learning.”

The spokesman said SACE was “continually developing our assessment to move away from what students can recall, to assessing students’ conceptual understanding”.

“It is not just what students know but how they think and apply their knowledge and understanding,” he said.

“The core focus of assessment is a student’s ability to think critically and to interpret and analyse information”.

The spokesman said the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools during examinations “is not appropriate and therefore will not be available for use”.

Comment also has been sought from ACARA.

An example of how the new AI program ChatGPT works. Picture: Supplied

Bots in schools: AI gets A-OK in SA classrooms

South Australian public school students will be allowed to use artificial intelligence except during exams and tests.

Unlike other states such as Queensland and NSW which will ban a new website, ChatGPT, in schools, the SA Education Department will permit access for lessons.

However, chief executive Dr Martin Westwell said firewalls would be used to stop students from using AI during SACE exams and other assessments such as NAPLAN tests.

Dr Westwell, a former SACE chief executive and head of science education at Flinders University, said it was important AI was embraced as a valuable educational tool.

“Artificial intelligence is now part of our world, and it will be the world our young people are going be a part of,” he said.

“It’s about getting the balance right. We want to be sure we are controlling its use in a way that students are making the best possible use of it to support their learning, while also restricting access during times of formal assessment.”

Dr Westwell said the department had been monitoring the global developments of AI.

“It is not something which has just sprung up. We have been preparing for a number of years,” he said.

“Our schools can stop access to it. We have the technology to lock out access to websites, especially during online exams.”

An example of how the new AI program ChatGPT works. Picture: Supplied

Dr Westwell said the issue of AI was discussed earlier this month during a departmental briefing with senior managers, including principals.

“We want to make sure that we can control the use of ChatGPT,” he said.

“While it will need to be restricted during exams, we want to work together with our students and teachers on what AI looks like and how it can be used to help students with their creativity and resilience.

“It is what universities and employers are looking for.”

Dr Westwell said it was inevitable that AI would become one of the greatest technological revolutions in recent times.

“It’s like when calculators came along in the ’70s and the internet came along in the ’80s,” he said.

Dr Westwell said he had experimented with ChatGPT since it became available in December, comparing it to an improved version of Google.

“It answers your questions better,” he said.

“It’s like having an expert sitting in the room with you, not that you’re going to take the same view without doing your own research and challenging what it’s telling you.”

Dr Westwell said students already were using websites such as Google to conduct their research, and teachers were familiar with them “cutting and pasting” or getting parental assistance during assignments.

“Teachers know their students, how they write, how they answer questions,” he said. “If they use something like ChatGPT, they’ll spot it.”

Dr Westwell said it also would be obvious the software was used if students submitted similarly worded assignments.

SA Secondary Principals Association chief executive Jayne Heath said the organisation supported the stance being taken by the Education Department to AI.

“It (ChatGPT) is readily available, and I’m not sure if you could put a ban on it,” she said. “We need to deal with it and support our students to use it in a way which isn’t only effective but also ethical.

“They have been getting help to understand copyright and plagiarism for some time.”