Imagine a classroom where students engage in debates with digital twins of Socrates, explore ancient Greek philosophy, or learn impressionist painting techniques from a robotic Claude Monet.
Powerful AI tools are set to become integral to society, transforming how we learn, work, and live, with GenAI technologies poised to permeate every aspect of human learning. This exciting integration promises to make education more interactive and engaging at every level, inspiring students to dive deeper into subjects and think critically.
To fully realise this potential, we need a dual approach to learning: educating ourselves both about and with GenAI. The technology could significantly benefit students from diverse backgrounds, including those facing socio-economic disadvantages or language barriers. However, as Lisa Chesters, MP, notes, it's crucial to approach this with care to maximise the benefits while managing the associated risks. The recent inquiry into GenAI in education underscores the need for equitable access to quality GenAI tools for all students and educators. By integrating these tools into the national curriculum and establishing clear guidelines, we can turn GenAI into a supportive study buddy that enhances the educational experience for everyone.
Ahead of the 2nd Annual Generative AI for Education Leaders Summit 2025, Quest Events spoke with Assoc. Professor Jo-Anne Chuck (School of Science, Western Sydney University), Laura Bain (Head of Future Learning and Academic Operations, Matthew Flinders Anglican College), Dr Bek Duyckers (Deputy Principal, Coomera Anglican College), and Steve Uscinski (Deputy Headmaster, Teaching and Learning at Brisbane Grammar) to gain their insights into the successes, challenges, and future role of GenAI in education.
Success Stories with GenAI
Gen-AI related success stories abound in the realm of education. Uscinski shared his experience at Brisbane Grammar: “We implemented ChatGPT to integrate state syllabus standards in English for literary features, matching these to the literary texts studied by the students to generate examples. The process I modelled included precise prompting to refine the specific features being identified. It was certainly a ‘time-saver’, but more importantly, students were then able to move to the ‘thinking’ required in analysing the exemplar texts, specifically connecting words and stylistic features to the standards.” Uscinski emphasised the importance of the learning process: “Showing students that ‘process’ rather than ‘product’ enables real learning: creating exemplars for analysis is ‘process’ focussed, whereas ‘write me an essay’ is ‘product’ focussed and does not activate deep learning.”
Echoing this sentiment, Dr Duyckers highlighted Coomera Anglican College’s success with a custom AI chat platform. “Our custom bot knows the students, so it tailors its responses to the individual student queries”, she explained. This tool assists with research applications, building designs, drafting, providing feedback, guiding focus questions, and refining research methodologies in Secondary.
Bain discussed leveraging Generative AI in their interdisciplinary units known as I-Impact units at Matthew Flinders Anglican College. “Generative AI has begun to play a transformative role in this process, significantly enhancing students' ability to visualise and communicate their ideas”, she said. One example involved Year 4 students using New Arc AI (a GenAI tool) to convert sketches into photorealistic images, allowing them to see their ideas materialise in high-fidelity renderings. “The impact was profound; students were able to pitch their designs with confidence, armed with professional-quality prototype visuals that elevated their communication skills and deepened their engagement with the problem-solving process.”
Professor Chuck shared her experience using Generative AI for curriculum appraisal at Western Sydney University. “I have used GenAI for complex and independent appraisal of curricula, validating what we are delivering in our programs.” She explained that platforms like Co-pilot helped with integrated thematic analysis and gap analyses, supporting a coherent learning experience. “Though not visible to our students, this use of GenAI supports learning and an experience that is intended, coherent and appropriate”, Chuck adds.
Benefits of Integrating GenAI
Integrating Generative AI into education opens up a wealth of opportunities for enhancing teaching and learning. Chuck believes GenAI will become part of the knowledge infrastructure of the future, streamlining educators’ work while still requiring human input. She noted that learning to augment and use AI’s output will be critical for students, enhancing their understanding of how knowledge is created, accessed and critiqued while developing their transdisciplinary learning, meta-intelligence and emotional quotient (EQ).
Duyckers highlighted the ability of Generative AI to “draw on data to create personalised responses for students based on their learning profile”, providing differentiated support for their learning. Bain added that AI’s greatest strength is its ability to “bring big ideas to life—particularly for students who may lack the technical skills to fully communicate their concepts.” She emphasised that AI can act as a thinking partner: “AI can prompt students with the right questions, guide their reasoning, and help them refine their ideas in ways that foster deeper intellectual engagement. Rather than merely providing answers, AI can enhance metacognition and scaffold complex problem-solving, allowing students to fully realise their own thinking”, she explained.
Uscinski noted that GenAI helps ensure students are prepared for an AI-powered future with the critical skills and the necessary ethical mindset. He also mentioned that “teacher preparation and administration will potentially become more efficient, allowing more time to focus on thinking and pedagogy”.
Challenges Faced
However, this journey is not without its challenges. Bain discussed the persistent challenge of bias in AI-generated outputs, stating, “While AI tools are evolving, they still reflect the biases inherent in their training data.” She views this as an opportunity to teach students about critical AI literacy, encouraging them to be specific and intentional in their prompts. Additionally, she addressed the uncertainty surrounding AI implementation, noting that schools need to take a proactive and balanced approach to ensure that AI integration is strategic and ethical.
Uscinski acknowledged the legitimate fears of security of personal data and misuse of AI (such as fakes), as well as the difficulty of keeping policy and safety guardrails up to date in a fast-changing environment.
Chuck highlighted the challenge of shifting perceptions among staff regarding teaching and assessment. “While early adopters are keen to integrate GenAI into a discipline context, they are less confident to discuss other considerations mitigating and/or augmenting use.” She pointed out concerns about diversity, limitations, biases of tools, and academic integrity.
Duyckers articulated additional challenges faced, “Although ChatGPT is often labelled an artificial intelligence, it is more accurately a large language model that analyses text patterns rather than acting autonomously. It depends on carefully crafted prompts to produce high-quality results, requiring users to define what they want generated and guide the model with clear instructions. By clarifying the context, objectives and desired style, people can dramatically improve ChatGPT’s responses. Understanding the nuances of prompt creation - whether specifying formats, emphasising detail or requesting creative variations - unlocks ChatGPT’s full potential. Essentially, the key to maximising its usefulness lies in a thoughtful approach to prompting rather than relying on any innate ‘intelligence’ within the tool itself.”
Future Vision for GenAI
Looking to the future, Duyckers emphasised the rapid evolution of AI: “AI evolves so quickly; it’s challenging to predict the landscape in five years’ time.” Despite this uncertainty, she remains optimistic about its advantages for education, particularly in boosting efficiency. “The advantages will be timesaving for teachers and admin staff, allowing them to focus more on their teaching practice.” For students, AI will enhance their learning experience by offering real-time, personalised assistance in class. She observed that while managing AI in classrooms presents a minor challenge, equipping teachers with effective AI skills is a rewarding learning curve, she explained.
Ultimately, Duyckers believes that the future of Generative AI in education holds great promise for enhancing learning experiences and promoting educational equity. “The continuous development of these technologies will likely lead to innovative approaches for teaching and learning that we can only begin to imagine today.”
Chuck similarly anticipates rapid advancements in Gen AI in the higher education sphere: “I see the mundane work associated with ‘rules’ or repetition reduced, offsetting the administrative burden for leaders and teachers. By integrating GenAI with human intelligence visible during student work, the potential to provide personalised accessible learning pathways at scale is also very exciting, supporting increased student success and accessibility.”
Uscinski stated, “I’m not inclined to predict or forecast, but AI will undoubtedly become more mainstream in our lives, and hence more mainstream in education.” He concluded by expressing optimism about the adaptability of the profession: “The ‘exciting’ part is how we as a profession adapt to this challenge.”
Bain shared her vision for the future, noting that the integration of AI across different application ecosystems is just beginning. “From an academic operations perspective, I see enormous potential in AI-driven automation and data management,” she remarked. “Do I believe AI will replace teachers? Absolutely not. AI can enhance teaching, but it can never replace the human connection, empathy, and professional judgment that great educators bring to the classroom. The future of AI in education is not about substituting teachers—it is about empowering them with smarter tools that amplify their impact and transform the learning experience.”
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Hear more from these four leaders in education and many more at the 2nd Annual Generative AI for Education Leaders Summit 2025, 26-28 March at the Aerial UTS Function Centre, Sydney.