Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) Professor Kathryn MacCallum, from the School of Leadership and Professional Practice, is leading work on the Scaffolded AI Literacy (SAIL) framework.
SAIL helps learners and educators not only understand what artificial intelligence (AI) is but to think critically about when and how to use it. Professor MacCallum says the framework, which is available to schools and tertiary institutions, is not about encouraging more AI use but helping people to make informed choices.
“The literacy framework doesn’t assume use of AI. It’s about understanding it.
“AI literacy is often mistaken for knowing how to use tools such as ChatGPT, but SAIL asks people to think more critically.
“We get so narrow, we just talk about which button to press. I want to talk about whether we should be pressing that button in the first place,” she says.
The framework was developed with experts across education, industry and computer science, alongside Māori and Pacific voices. Professor MacCallum says the team wanted to consider what AI literacy should look like in Aotearoa New Zealand and make room for different communities and perspectives.
“We wanted to ensure Indigenous and Pacific voices were included from the outset, so the framework reflected more than one perspective,” she says.
That shift, from technical use to critical judgement, is central to the framework.
SAIL builds AI literacy by helping learners and educators understand key concepts, develop practical tool skills and consider AI citizenship — the responsibilities that come with using AI.
Professor MacCallum says the citizenship aspect is important because AI is not neutral, and learners need to understand its wider impacts.
“AI can be used for good, but there are also risks we need to understand and respond to,” she says.
Unlike some AI literacy models, SAIL is scaffolded across levels, supporting people to build understanding over time. It is also designed as one framework for both students and teachers, rather than separate versions.
Professor MacCallum says SAIL also frames AI literacy as a social need: a set of skills and understanding that everyone needs to have given the influence of AI in society today.
“This makes it flexible enough to be adapted across ages, contexts, education levels and disciplines, with the depth and application changing depending on the context.
“You can teach AI literacy to a kindergarten child,” she says. “The framework is about competencies, and it’s contextualised in terms of how you would teach that and how it would be understood and needed.”
Professor MacCallum has been engaging with the Ministry of Education on AI literacy and how this is being framed across the current curriculum changes, she is also supporting the Education Review Office in their current research project exploring how AI is being used in schools.
At UC, SAIL has informed short courses and the new Master of AI and Education.
She says the framework does not assume everyone should use AI. Instead, it helps people make informed choices about when to use it, when not to, and which tools are appropriate.
That distinction is particularly important in conversations about assistive technology, where AI can support students’ learning rather than replace it.
“A lot of the assistive technologies are AI based. We need to think about AI as a supporting tool, not a replacement tool.”
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