Google is extending Gemini in Google Classroom to K–12 students, bringing its study tools into the same environment where students already receive assignments and class materials. From 10 August, students of all ages can access the Gemini tab in Classroom where their school administrator has enabled the service. Students can use course materials to create practice quizzes or flashcards, while contextual starter prompts can use a specific class, assignment instructions and curriculum materials to tailor the support they receive. Mobile rollout began on 17 August. Why this matters For schools already using Google Classroom, the update gives students a more structured way to use generative AI around actual course content rather than starting with a blank public chatbot. It also puts access in the hands of administrators, who can control Gemini in Classroom by group or organisational unit. That control does not remove the need for clear expectations. Google advises users to review AI-generated content because outputs can be wrong, so schools will still need guidance on when Gemini is appropriate and how students should check what it produces. Read Google’s original announcement →

Teacher retention conversations usually begin with workload and pay. Australia’s latest workforce data points to another pressure that is becoming harder to ignore: behaviour. Among teachers who said they intended to leave the profession before retirement, 48% cited parent behaviour and 47% cited student behaviour in 2024. Both figures increased by five percentage points in a single year. Parent behaviour was particularly prominent among senior leaders, at 58%. A teacher and students in Sydney. Behaviour and relationships with families are increasingly appearing in Australian teacher-retention data. Image: Adam Jones / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. More than classroom management These figures should not be read as a complaint about students or families. They are a reminder that schools need clear systems for behaviour, communication and conflict so individual teachers are not left to absorb every difficult interaction on their own. For school leaders, retention strategies therefore need to include more than salary and wellbeing initiatives. The quality of behavioural support, parent communication and leadership backing can also shape whether teaching remains sustainable. Read AITSL’s National Trends: Teacher Workforce report

Nanyang Technological University is making AI literacy mandatory for every undergraduate from August 2026, regardless of what they study. NTU plans to integrate artificial intelligence into 40% of its courses by 2030. The university says the aim is not simply for students to use AI, but to understand it well enough to create and work with AI-enabled tools. The Hive at NTU Singapore. From August 2026, AI literacy lessons will be mandatory for all NTU undergraduates. Image: Supanut Arunoprayote / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Every undergraduate will also receive access to a suite of premium Google AI tools and computing credits that can be used to build and deploy AI agents. NTU faculty are already using course-specific AI assistants to support learning in areas including data science, thermodynamics and medicine. Why this matters for schools The important signal is that AI literacy is being treated as a baseline graduate capability rather than a specialist skill for computing students. Schools do not need to copy a university programme. But they do need to consider what students should understand about AI before they reach university or the workplace. That includes knowing when AI is useful, how to question its output and how to use it without replacing their own judgement. As universities begin making these expectations explicit, the question for schools becomes increasingly practical: what should an AI-literate school leaver actually be able to do? Read NTU’s overview of its AI plans

10,000 specialist teachers will lead AI use in schools across South Korea. South Korea is training 10,000 lead teachers in 2026 to help schools use artificial intelligence more purposefully in teaching and learning. The Ministry of Education programme is designed around teachers who can use AI professionally in lessons and help lead change within their schools. The emphasis is not simply on learning individual tools, but on developing educators who can support colleagues as classroom practice evolves. Why this matters Large-scale AI adoption is increasingly becoming a professional-learning challenge rather than a technology-purchasing challenge. Schools need people who can connect new tools to curriculum, assessment and sound teaching practice. For international schools, Korea’s approach offers a useful question: instead of expecting every teacher to become an AI specialist, should schools deliberately develop a smaller group of well-supported practitioners who can coach colleagues and test approaches responsibly? Read the Korean Ministry of Education announcement

China is moving to make artificial intelligence competency a more formal part of the teaching profession. Under its national “AI + Education” Action Plan, the Ministry of Education says AI will be incorporated into teacher qualification examinations and certification, alongside new standards for teachers’ AI literacy and large-scale professional development. A classroom in China. The country is moving AI literacy into formal teacher standards, training and qualification requirements. Image: Rex Pe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. The policy goes considerably further than simply encouraging teachers to experiment with AI tools. It calls for AI training across different teaching roles, reform of teacher education programmes, AI-supported lesson preparation and marking, and new approaches to professional learning for teachers. China has already begun training at considerable scale. The Ministry of Education says AI-focused programmes have reached around 250,000 school principals and local education leaders, while AI literacy training has covered more than 310,000 teachers in central and western China. Why this matters The interesting question for schools elsewhere is not whether every education system will follow China’s model. It is whether AI competence is moving from optional professional learning towards a basic professional expectation for teachers. Most schools are still working out what teachers should reasonably be expected to know about AI. China’s approach suggests one possible direction: defining those capabilities explicitly and eventually treating them as part of professional accreditation. For international schools, that raises a useful question of our own: What should every teacher now be expected to understand about AI, regardless of subject or role? Read China’s Ministry of Education AI + Education Action Plan

Australia is putting a simple promise about AI to the test: can it actually reduce teacher workload? The Australian Government’s $30 million Workload Reduction Fund supports 27 pilots across the country. Current projects include expanding NSWEduChat to staff in around 700 schools, generative-AI support for marking and feedback in independent schools, a Catholic education chatbot, and a Western Australian project using AI for lesson planning and learning activities. Students at the International School of Western Australia. Australian workload pilots are testing whether AI and other changes can reduce time spent on tasks around teaching. Image: ISWAschool / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. The test that matters There is plenty of discussion about AI transforming education. A more immediate measure may be whether it gives teachers meaningful time back without weakening professional judgement or creating new checking work. For school leaders, that suggests a useful standard for any new AI tool: not whether it is impressive, but whether it measurably removes low-value work and leaves teachers more time for students. Explore Australia’s Workload Reduction Fund pilots

Vietnam has placed several uses of artificial intelligence in education on its new list of high-risk AI systems. The July 2026 rules include AI systems that automatically test, evaluate or rank learners, systems that monitor and analyse learner behaviour, and some self-study tools that generate educational content from uncontrolled data sources. A classroom in Vietnam. The country’s new AI framework identifies several education applications as high risk, particularly where systems make or influence judgements about learners. Image: Phat14082005 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. High risk does not mean banned The classification matters because it separates relatively low-stakes classroom experimentation from uses that can affect a student’s opportunities, record or treatment. The rules do not amount to a blanket ban on educational AI, but they signal that some applications deserve stronger safeguards and oversight. For international schools, the distinction is useful even outside Vietnam. An AI tool that helps a teacher generate discussion questions carries a very different level of risk from one that scores students, ranks them or continually analyses their behaviour. Schools need governance that reflects that difference. Read the Vietnamese Government announcement

The NSW Government has asked NESA to review how artificial intelligence is affecting student learning and assessment, including whether unsupervised take-home assessments should continue to play the same role in schools. Assessment at Warrimoo Public School. NSW is reviewing how take-home tasks can better reflect students’ own understanding as AI use grows. Image: © State of New South Wales (Department of Education), 2023. CC BY 4.0. Why this is overdue AI may have prompted the review, but the underlying problem is much older. Take-home assessment has never taken place on a level playing field. Some students have access to parents, tutors, technology and other support outside school. Others are largely on their own. That has always made it difficult to know exactly how much a piece of work reflects the student's own understanding. Generative AI has simply made that problem impossible to ignore. EdEvents view: This may be one of the more positive consequences of AI in education. Rather than spending all our energy trying to detect who used AI and how, schools have an opportunity to rethink assessment around what students can genuinely demonstrate, explain and produce themselves. In many ways, AI is pushing education towards a change that was overdue anyway. Read the NSW Government announcement

Cambridge International is expanding the use of AI-assisted marking in its Digital Mocks Service, including written English assessments. For the July 2026 series, Cambridge IGCSE First Language English Papers 1 and 2 and English as a Second Language Paper 1 are being marked using an AI-assisted process. Multiple-choice and listening components continue to use automated marking. As digital assessment expands, international schools are beginning to see AI used not only by students but within assessment systems themselves. Image: Bright Kwame Ayisi / Wikimedia Commons (CC0). Cambridge says the AI uses the same marking criteria as its examiners. Every AI-awarded mark is verified, with a human examiner making the final judgement where there is uncertainty. The organisation says it compared more than 200,000 AI-awarded marks with examiner-awarded marks while testing the system. Why this matters For international schools, this is another indication of how quickly assessment itself is beginning to change. The most interesting development may be the move beyond automatically marking multiple-choice questions. AI is now being tested on responses that require interpretation and judgement, while Cambridge is deliberately retaining human oversight. It is also important not to overstate the change. Cambridge says AI-assisted marking is currently being developed for digital mocks only, not for live Cambridge IGCSE or International AS & A Level examinations. The development comes as Cambridge expands digital examinations more broadly. Its first live digital exams were delivered through an Early Adopter Programme in 2026, with worldwide availability beginning in 2027. Read Cambridge International’s explanation of its AI-assisted marking: AI-assisted marking for digital mock exams

Singapore’s international-school market is adding new options for the 2026–27 school year, with established schools expanding and new operators testing different price points. Brighton College (Singapore) is launching its Sixth Form in August 2026, extending the school through Years 12 and 13. Its initial programme includes 20 A-level subjects across sciences, mathematics, humanities, languages and the arts, with pupils typically beginning four subjects in Year 12 before continuing with three in Year 13. An international-school campus in Bukit Timah, Singapore. New and expanding schools are adding to the range of models and price points available to families. Image: Mx. Granger / Wikimedia Commons, CC0. The campus pictured is Invictus International School, not Brighton College or Heath House. At the other end of the market, Heath House International School is preparing a new Bukit Timah campus built around the Cambridge pathway and explicitly positioning itself as a British education option “without the high fees”. For its first 100 founding families, Heath House currently lists net annual tuition of S$15,000 for Years 2–6 and S$16,000 for Years 7–9, excluding GST. The school’s opening remains subject to regulatory approval, with PEI registration and approval still pending. Early Years and Year 1 admissions are planned for a future academic year. Different parts of the same market These two developments should not be read as evidence of a single market trend. They do, however, show providers approaching Singapore from very different directions. Brighton is extending an established premium British-school model into the final years of secondary education. Heath House is trying to enter a crowded market with a much more price-conscious proposition. For families, that means more choice. For school groups considering Singapore, it is a reminder that a strong brand is only one part of the proposition. Age range, curriculum, location and price are all becoming clearer points of differentiation. Read about Brighton College Singapore’s new Sixth Form See Heath House International School’s published fees and approval status

The inquiry is being heard in Sydney, New South Wales. Photo: Pejman Ajorlou / Unsplash (Unsplash Licence). An ongoing NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry involving Catholic Schools NSW is continuing, with public hearings examining allegations that remain under investigation. The Sydney Morning Herald has reported on the latest evidence given at the inquiry, including further questioning of Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney. Read the latest reporting from the Sydney Morning Herald →

Google is bringing Gemini closer to the everyday tools and class context teachers already use in Google Classroom. Google is rolling out a new Classroom connection for Gemini that allows the AI assistant to work with a teacher’s existing assignments, class materials and other Classroom information. That means teachers can ask Gemini for help based on what is actually happening in their classes, rather than having to provide all the context manually. Google says the feature is available globally in English for Google Workspace for Education users aged 18 and over. Why this matters For schools already using Google Classroom, this could make Gemini considerably more useful for everyday planning, differentiation and identifying learning needs. It is also another sign that AI tools are moving closer to the systems teachers already use, making clear school guidance around appropriate AI use increasingly important. Read Google’s original announcement →