NSW Education Minister proposes ban on take-home assessments to curb AI use

New South Wales Education Minister Prue Car has ordered a review into the impact of artificial intelligence on schooling, proposing a moratorium on unsupervised take-home assessments to protect the integrity of the Higher School Certificate (HSC).

The move follows reports of rising misconduct, including over 1,000 recorded cases of cheating in HSC school-based tasks in 2025. Car requested that the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) consider barring unsupervised assignments to ensure the HSC remains a trusted credential that accurately reflects student ability.

The review will also examine AI's effect on cognitive development and the potential need to return to pen-and-paper assessments. This comes amid concerns that AI may undermine critical thinking, creativity, and literacy skills, especially following data from the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) showing students missing basic benchmarks.