Alarming ERO report reveals most teachers fear AI is eroding critical thinking

More than half of teachers believe AI is having a negative impact on students’ critical thinking and 54% say it is also harming creative thinking.

The concern is particularly pronounced in secondary schools, where 71% of teachers believe AI has negatively affected students’ critical thinking, compared with 41% of primary teachers.

Teachers told ERO they were increasingly worried students were relying on AI to complete work rather than using it to support their learning.

The report found widespread concern that over-reliance on AI could leave students “losing the ability to do the important learning themselves”.

One primary school student echoed those concerns, telling researchers: “When people can’t be bothered thinking for themselves, they’ll use AI.”

Schools struggling to keep pace with rapid uptake

The report found schools were struggling to establish rules around the rapidly evolving technology.

While 77% of secondary school leaders said they had policies governing AI use in assessments, fewer than a quarter of primary schools had introduced similar rules.

The report also found significant gaps around privacy and security.

About 70% of school leaders said they did not have policies covering data privacy and security for teachers using AI.

However, the ERO found the impact of AI was not universally negative.

The effects depended on how the technology was used.

When students used AI to generate ideas, solve problems or review and improve their own work, teachers and students were more likely to report positive effects on critical and creative thinking.

“The nature of AI use determines whether the impact is positive or negative.”

The report found schools needed to move away from unplanned AI use towards deliberate teaching that helped students use the technology appropriately.

The benefits: teachers say AI is saving time

Despite concerns about student learning, AI has been rapidly adopted by educators, with 93% of school leaders already using the technology, including 94% of primary school leaders and 87% of secondary leaders.

More than 80% of teachers also use AI, most commonly to help tailor teaching resources and plan lessons.

Almost 80% use AI to adapt classroom resources, while 65% use it for lesson planning.

However, many educators admitted they lacked confidence in using AI themselves.

Nearly half of teachers, 45%, and more than half of school leaders, 56%, said they did not know enough about AI to use the technology properly.

More than half of teachers, 55%, said AI was making their jobs easier, compared with just 7% who believed it had made their work harder.

The findings suggest schools are being forced to balance the opportunities AI presents with growing concerns about academic integrity.

AI emerged as the most common form of cheating in exams last year. Photo / Brett Phibbs

It comes after more than 1000 students were caught breaching NCEA assessment rules last year, with artificial intelligence emerging as the most common form of cheating.

In 2025, 168 students were caught using AI to cheat, a 185% increase from 2024.

Calls for national framework and better AI education

The report also found widespread demand for more formal AI education.

Eighty-four per cent of parents and whānau said they wanted children to learn how AI works, while three-quarters wanted schools to teach students how to use the technology appropriately for schoolwork.

Students also appeared open to more structured learning, with half saying it would be useful to receive specific instruction on using AI for school assignments.

ERO chief review officer David Ferguson said the Government needed to develop a framework to address the growing gap between AI use and school guidance.

The framework would provide nationally consistent guidance for schools on how teachers and students should use AI, with separate expectations for primary and secondary schools.

ERO chief review officer David Ferguson says the Government needs to develop a framework to address the growing gap between AI use and school guidance.

He also recommended developing national expectations around data privacy and safety, and exploring whether centrally provided AI tools could be made available for schools.

“We’ve got to keep talking about it at a national level. Schools are busy places, with lots of competing priorities every day, and we can’t expect every school to individually create fully informed policies and strategies around AI use,” Ferguson said.

“It would make more sense for there to be a consistent, deliberate national framework, with centrally developed guidance, so we can keep everyone safe and ensure AI is being used in a way that supports teaching and learning, rather than replacing learning.”

The report concludes New Zealand’s education system has reached a point where AI is no longer an emerging technology but a mainstream classroom tool, making clear national guidance increasingly urgent to ensure it enhances learning rather than replacing it.

Rachel Maher is the education correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. She also covers a variety of other topics like Auckland issues, crime and local government. She started at the Herald as a breaking news journalist in 2022, before joining the Auckland team this year.

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