Tracking AI in Education (TRAINE)

Project Details

The TRAINE Study (Tracking AI in Education) is being implemented as an annual research initiative designed to investigate how generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) is influencing teaching, learning, and assessment practices in Australian secondary school classrooms. TRAINE aims to document how Australian educators are responding to the growing presence of tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Co-pilot in their everyday practice.

TRAINE 2025 focuses specifically on secondary years education, a critical stage when students are building deeper reasoning skills, developing ethical awareness, and becoming increasingly active users of digital and AI technologies. The study explores how teachers navigate this emerging landscape, from assessment task design, to evolving approaches to critical thinking and student agency.

This foundational phase uses a national teacher survey to examine:

  • Patterns of Gen-AI use in teaching and assessment, including the assessment of critical thinking
  • Ethical decision-making around use of AI
  • Educator confidence, concerns, and support needs

The goal of TRAINE is to generate high-quality evidence that informs teacher education, policy development, and future-ready curriculum reform. Findings will help ensure that AI integration in schools is not only technically innovative, but also pedagogically meaningful, ethically sound, and grounded in the realities of the classroom.

TRAINE also contributes to the broader international conversation about what it means to teach and assess in the age of AI, offering practical insights and a longitudinal evidence base to support system-wide improvement.

Researchers

Dr Samantha-Kaye Johnston (Principal Investigator)

Collaborators

Dr Mireia Vendrell-Morancho (Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA) of the Spanish National Research Council)

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If you have any questions about participating or would like additional information about the project, please email to the lead researcher, Dr Samantha-Kaye Johnston at: samanthakaye.johnston@unimelb.edu.au