Teaching with AI: Ethical & Effective Practice

Session plans

1. 1

   Foundations — what generative AI is (and isn't) for teaching

   ~45 min
   Session plan

   Open with a two-minute live demo: ask any AI tool a NSW-specific syllabus question, let it answer confidently, then reveal the error. Frame the whole session around 'fast but unreliable'. Run the scope & sequence activity together on one screen, then debrief 'what it got right / what I'd change' as a shared whole-staff list.

   Discussion prompts

   • Where has someone already used AI for a teaching task — and did you trust the output?
   • Which of our tasks suit a general assistant, and which need a grounded tool?
   • What does 'staying the author' actually look like in your faculty?
   Watch for

   Two camps usually appear — the over-trusting ('it's amazing') and the resistant ('it's cheating'). Name both; the course's job is to move everyone to 'critical user'. Don't let the demo turn into an AI-bashing session.

   Standards2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)6.2 Engage in professional learning
2. 2

   The rules that bind us — policy, ethics & responsibility

   ~60 min
   Session plan

   This is the compliance backbone — walk the three policy layers, then run a scenario carousel. Put the de-identification scenario (a colleague pasting a student's history into a chatbot) to a quick think-pair-share. Display the DoE's six ethical checks as a poster for the room and keep referring back to it.

   Discussion prompts

   • What student information do we sometimes share too freely — and where?
   • Does our school require staff to disclose AI use? If not, should we?
   • Take a recent task and run it through the six ethical checks — does it pass?
   Watch for

   Privacy is where staff most need clarity and least want a lecture. Keep it practical: the hard line (no PII in general tools) plus the NSWEduChat nuance. Capture every 'is X okay?' as a school FAQ to take to your executive.

   Standards4.5 Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements
3. 3

   Prompt craft for teachers

   ~50 min
   Session plan

   The most hands-on session. Live-build one prompt with the room using RICE on a shared screen — take a vague one-liner and add each element, projecting the improving output. Then everyone rebuilds a prompt from their own week. Pair teachers across faculties so they see how RICE transfers.

   Discussion prompts

   • Which RICE element does our staff most often skip?
   • What's a task you'd never thought to give AI that RICE makes possible?
   • Let's build one faculty prompt we could all reuse.
   Watch for

   Confidence varies wildly — pair confident with hesitant staff. The 'aha' is that prompting = briefing clearly, which teachers already do well; surface that to lower the intimidation.

   Standards2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)3.4 Select and use resources6.2 Engage in professional learning
4. 4

   Plan-to-Paper — planning with AI without losing syllabus fidelity

   ~60 min
   Session plan

   A faculty-team session. Each faculty generates a real scope & sequence or program for next term in Lessio, then runs the review-before-use checklist on it. Teach code-verification with the MA5-TRG case study, then have each faculty verify two of their own outcome codes live against the NESA site.

   Discussion prompts

   • Where would a hallucinated outcome code do the most damage in our programs?
   • Which mandatory requirements must our reviews always check?
   • Could a colleague defend this draft in a registration audit?
   Watch for

   The risk is staff treating a polished draft as finished — emphasise that the edits ARE the professional work. Maths and Science staff often spot code errors fastest; use them to model verification for everyone.

   Standards2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements
5. 5

   In the classroom — feedback, differentiation, accessibility & integrity

   ~45 min
   Session plan

   Run a differentiation make-and-take: each teacher turns one real resource into enable + extend versions and shares. Then a focused integrity conversation — map current assessment tasks against 'could a student pass this with AI?' and redesign one to make the process visible.

   Discussion prompts

   • Which of our assessment tasks are most exposed to AI misuse — and how would we redesign them?
   • How do we want students to use AI, and do we teach that explicitly?
   • What in our classrooms must stay fully human?
   Watch for

   Integrity anxiety runs high. Steer away from 'detection' (unreliable) toward task design and authorship monitoring. Keep the differentiation win front-and-centre — it's the morale-builder.

   Standards1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet specific learning needs1.6 Strategies to support students with disability5.2 Provide feedback to students on their learning
6. 6

   Workload & wellbeing — automate the admin, protect the craft

   ~30 min
   Session plan

   Short and reflective. Each teacher does the automation triage on their real weekly tasks; collate the 'automate' answers into a shared faculty list of quick wins. End with each person naming one boundary they'll hold.

   Discussion prompts

   • What's the one recurring task we'd all love to automate first?
   • How do we make sure reclaimed time doesn't just refill with more work?
   • What craft must we keep practising so we don't deskill?
   Watch for

   Cynicism ('more tech = more work') is common and fair — acknowledge it. The honest promise is time back on the RIGHT tasks, not doing more. Leaders should commit to protecting, not absorbing, the reclaimed time.

   Standards6.2 Engage in professional learning7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities
7. 7

   Capstone — build, critique & log it

   ~60 min
   Session plan

   Run as a longer workshop or as directed time. Teachers build their connected set in Lessio and self-assess against the Ethical-Use Checklist. Collect the reflections — they're your evidence of a Standards-relevant PD day and the teachers' eTAMS record. Consider a faculty share-back of the best artefact.

   Discussion prompts

   • What's our shared standard for 'ready to use' AI-drafted material?
   • What one school-wide rule for responsible AI use should we adopt from today?
   • How will we log this as PD and keep building from here?
   Watch for

   Some will want to skip the reflection — but it's the part that makes this real PD and the evidence for eTAMS, so protect the time. Capture the school-wide rule the staff agree on; that's what leadership takes forward.

   Standards3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning

Standards-relevant professional learning, mapped to the APST · verified against national and NSW frameworks, June 2026.