WA teachers given helping hand with AI assistant set to roll out across 100 schools, slashing workload

WA teachers could soon each have their own robot assistant to take over time-consuming tasks such as setting lesson plans. A pilot program to trial a locally-built artificial intelligence tool for teachers that started with just eight schools in 2024 is set to expand to 100 schools by the end of this year. The AI tool, dubbed “WA ClassmAIte”, generates lessons, worksheets, handouts and quizzes linked to the WA Curriculum. The project, a partnership between WA’s public and private school sectors and the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, aims to reduce workload pressures for time-strapped teachers. The teachers’ union expects the tool will be ready to roll out to all teachers by the end of next year. State School Teachers Union president Matt Jarman said while the AI tool was likely to reduce workload, members wanted to ensure it did not also reduce lesson quality. “One of the observations across the country with these kinds of tools is we have reservations around the lesson quality,” he said. Liz Smith, principal of one of the first public schools to join the trial, Joseph Banks Secondary College, said her teachers were “really excited” to be involved in building the platform. “I think we would be naïve to think that teachers weren’t using (generative AI tools) already, so having a standardised platform that aligns to the WA curriculum is amazing,” she said. Ms Smith said a core group of staff had been setting tasks using WA ClassmAIte, refining the prompts they gave the tool to get the best results. “There’s a lot of due diligence around checking that it works, that it’s accurate, and really building the platform,” she said. “It’s not often that you get to be involved with those sorts of things right from the start.” A decision was made early on to focus on one learning area at a time, starting with English, to understand how AI interprets different instructions. Ms Smith said the platform was now being opened up for testing in other learning areas. “We’re looking at health and physical education, humanities and social sciences, and then there’s a schedule to roll that out across the year,” she said. A key benefit of the tool was that it would help teachers rapidly adapt lessons for students who needed extra support, or more challenging material. Ms Smith said teachers had always shared programs and practices, relying on professional autonomy to decide how best to meet students’ needs. “What this will offer is that teachers don’t have to do that in isolation — they will actually have a platform which will provide that support,” she said. The initiative has been jointly funded by the State and Federal Governments, starting with $4.7 million for the pilot program which began in four public and four private schools in 2024. By last year, 40 schools were taking part in the trial, with another 20 coming on board in Term One this year. Education Minister Sabine Winton said reducing teacher workloads was one of her top priorities. “Importantly, (WA ClassmAIte) provides teachers with the ability to review, adapt and refine content to meet the needs of their students,” she said.