Call for clarification after webinar says teachers could suggest students use AI for creative tasks

It was also suggested during the webinar that AI could be prompted to write a play, which they could then rewrite and perform themselves. File picture

There have been calls for further guidelines on artificial intelligence (AI) in schools when it comes to creative tasks, following a teacher training webinar that suggested students use ChatGPT to help create poems.

English teacher Conor Murphy, who is also head of the Drama, Film and Theatre Teachers' Association, said he recently attended training with Oide, the Department of Education’s support service for teachers and school leaders.

At the webinar, the use of AI was suggested three times, according to Mr Murphy, twice in relation to creative tasks. The Zoom webinar was in relation to the Leaving Cert Applied subject English and Communication.

One of the key assignments students have to do is to compose a poem, a song or a rap by themselves.

At the webinar, it was suggested that some students can find this exercise difficult, so the advice for teachers was to consider using AI to write a poem, play or song, which the student could then rewrite, Mr Murphy said. An example was given.

It was also suggested during the webinar that AI could be prompted to write the play, which they could then rewrite and perform themselves.

“I don’t have to do what [Oide] say in terms of using AI in class, but they are suggesting to teachers that they can, and maybe even at certain stages in class, with certain students, that they should. 

"I don’t agree with that suggestion. I don’t think AI should be used in any kind of creative tasks.

When you do let the students do it, and they struggle and struggle, that’s exactly where the learning happens. 

"That’s when they become educated, that’s when they become creative.

“I would love proper guidelines saying ‘you are not to use AI for creative tasks’,” Mr Murphy said. 

“I fundamentally disagree with this approach; it is anti-educational, and it is shocking that a Government organisation would be promoting this.”

A spokesperson for Oide said it does not "encourage, recommend or promote the use of specific AI models to replace the need for students to be creative learners". Its policy on AI aligns with the guidance on AI published by the Department of Education last October.

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A core principle of the guidance is that AI should "complement and support teaching and learning, with teachers as the key decision-makers regarding pedagogy, assessment, and learning design". Any outputs generated by AI must be reviewed and validated by educators, they added. 

"Oide’s role is to help schools make informed decisions about whether, when and how such technologies may be appropriate in their context. Oide understands that there may be some apprehension about the use of AI, which is a rapidly developing technology. 

"Guidelines on the safe and responsible use of AI remain constantly under review."