Students must learn how to use it, not abuse it as they look forward to an unknown but tech-driven future

It’s safe to say that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become part of both teachers and students’ lives. Some say it has changed traditional classrooms into more dynamic spaces of personalised learning reflecting the future lives of children growing up in a tech age. Others caution its influence in the classroom and question if there is the chance to replace thinking and learning, as opposed to supporting it. Whatever the case, as AI continues to evolve and shape education’s landscape, schools on the island are putting policies in place to keep an eye on its impact.

Currently, teachers use AI for planning, differentiating between students and identifying gaps in learning. “These are clearly in the first stages as we tread through this new age and learn how AI can help us,” says head of school at Foley’s School in Limassol, Lucy Georghiou. Students are meanwhile being taught how to use AI ethically in research, using it for support in generating ideas, practicing skills and reflecting on their learning. Senior students use it to help create study plans for exams. “We’re very careful in making sure AI supports thinking rather than replaces it. The future impact is about confidence: students are learning how to work alongside AI safely, ethically and critically so they are prepared for workplaces where AI will be standard,” adds Georghiou.

Likewise, at the Heritage Private School in Limassol, teacher and deputy head in charge of educational standards Simon Demetriou says “there is a distinction to be drawn between curriculum decisions and pedagogical decisions. As far as curriculum decisions go, everyone is pretty much on board with the idea that at least some level of understanding or application of AI can be valuably be brought into the classroom.”

Elsewhere, students are encouraged to use AI to perform various learning tasks such as studying specific syllabus topics through interactive conversations with Generative AI Platforms and to revise for exams by using AI applications to create revision flashcards, adds the International School of Paphos (ISOP)’s AI Champion Antonis Yiannouros. Students must “learn how to use it and not abuse it, use it as a learning partner, not a shortcut,” adds Georghiou. “We encourage them to ask questions and challenge AI responses, trust their human knowledge. We have used it to generate essays or classwork and looked at how it is not always reliable and that human oversight is absolutely necessary, trying to make them understand where AI helps and where human judgement matters more”. At Heritage, modules on AI and prompt engineering have been introduced in ICT and computer classes from year 7 upwards. “Students are being introduced to the different AI tools that are commonly used, on both the ethics of it, and how to try and productively use it through different applications,” says Demetriou.

In a public lecture in Nicosia last month exploring how AI can support teachers and learners as education adapts to rapid technological change, long-term educator and recognised contributor to computer science and educational innovation, Michalis Tortouris, spoke about the ethical and pedagogical responsibilities of AI, underlining that technology requires guidance while educators remain the moral compass ensuring safe, transparent and privacy-respecting use of AI.

And schools confirm they allow the use of AI for learning, planning, revision and exploration but not to replace assessed work. “We teach our pupils what AI is and how it works, its bias and limitations, we talk about ethics, copyright and data protection as well as prompts and critical evaluation and we emphasize responsible and transparent use,” says Georghiou. “AI literacy is embedded across our whole curriculum, especially ICT, as young pupils learn their way through technology and its use within and outside the classroom. We teach them about AI being a machine that learns from people and the world and that it is not always accurate,” she adds.

On the whole, schools agree their policies are designed to evolve with the times, and not freeze their practice. In general, these policies cover safeguarding, data protection, academic integrity and responsible use.

Yet Demetriou says there is a danger that AI “convinces people that we need to be teaching students about what exists in AI now and how to use it. Actually, the extent to which students will ever need that is really limited and should only be taught as an application of skills they should theoretically be able to use, regardless of what actual AI tools they use when they enter the work force”. In terms of pedagogical usage, and in particular in classrooms outside of ICT, he says “what we’re seeing is that there was a flurry of excitement, everyone wanted to see how we can use it and needed to think about how we can use AI to make our lessons better, and fundamentally the evidence suggests that no one’s really managed to do that anywhere because in some respects AI is trying to do something that kind of runs counter to the way learning needs to work.

“There are some ways in which we have been able to productively use it, but whenever you integrate AI into the classroom, what we’re finding is that the time that you need to spend teaching and encouraging students to use it responsibly is so huge that it either wipes out any gains or it weakens the outcomes. It’s very difficult, especially for a younger student, and I see adults failing to do this as well, to be able to discern between good output and bad output”. However, there is a value in having the critical ability to discern between good and bad. “The argument is that fundamentally, AI is useful for people who already posses fundamental expertise in something. So what we’re finding is that AI can be pretty useful for teachers, in offloading certain elements or groundwork. We’re asking the same question people asked about smart phones; if you’re born with smart phones and screens, how do you get the best out of education, given the world they live in has a new component to it. The evidence suggests that the way to help those students actually isn’t that much different to the way we helped students before this technology existed, which is to teach them that these are tools, and every tool has a primary use… we’re probably going to get to a point where the only way in which AI has been proven to benefit and be useful in education is along very narrow lines of helping with receptive practice and marginally adaptive practice. So things like grammar exercises or generating and self-marking math problems, for example,” he concludes.

As the world moves faster than the curriculum, and recently leaked documents suggest Amazon could replace up to 600,000 workers with robots, the pertinent question that arises for for higher education is: what are we preparing young people for?

Careers Advisor at ISOP Stella Luizinho says “there is a lot of speculation about how AI will evolve and its applications in real life, which we feel requires a cautious and responsible approach”. To address this, the school raises awareness during careers interviews and guidance meetings, where students are introduced to AI and its growing role in higher education and future careers. “We invite guest speakers, working in AI-related fields to share real-world insights and highlight the range of university pathways and career opportunities linked to AI. We also encourage students to consider how AI is reshaping different industries and how this may affect the long-term relevance of certain degrees and we guide them to focus on developing transferable skills, such as problem-solving, communication and adaptability. These interpersonal skills will help future-proof their careers in an AI driven world,” she adds.

“We have seen a rise in the choice of AI for undergraduate degrees but the simple answer is that we do not encourage pupils to follow a specific career path or industry,” says Georghiou as teachers struggle to make sense of an unknown future. “We place a lot of value in encouraging them to follow their passions. As fantastic a tool as AI is, it cannot replace genuine passion for expertise and the love of learning. AI affects every subject, whether that be medicine, law, arts, engineering, business, education. We show pupils that no subject is AI proof and that every subject can use AI creatively and responsibly. Human skills – judgement, empathy, creativity – are still essential. AI changes how subjects are studied not whether they matter”.

The answer to directing students cannot be “the jobs of tomorrow”, because those jobs may not exist. The task now is to educate for adaptability, imagination and moral judgment, the qualities no algorithm can replace. As historian and philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote in 1961: “Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it.” This is the work before us.”

To this end, Georghiou remains optimistic. “AI is not a shadow. It is a spotlight. It forces schools to rethink assessment, teaching and learning. It challenges old models but also gives powerful new ways to support students and staff. Schools that ignore it risk falling behind. Schools that engage with it thoughtfully gain huge opportunities.”

Higher education stands at a fork in the road. One path leads deeper into optimisation: faster courses, tighter metrics, closer alignment to industry. The other path leads back to truth, curiosity and moral imagination. The first path is safe but soulless. The second is uncertain but alive.