AI Culture and Inclusion

Practical checklists for educators ensuring clarity and ethical AI use

Inclusive AI Teaching Checklists (For Staff + Learners)

AI adds complexity — but it also adds clarity when you design with intention.

These checklists help ensure your teaching and assessments remain inclusive, ethical, and transparent.

They can be copied directly into course shells, training decks, or programme guidance.

A. Kaiako Checklist — Inclusive AI Teaching

1. Clarity & Transparency

Before teaching:

  • Have I clearly stated what AI use is allowed, discouraged, or not permitted?

  • Have I modelled my own ethical use of AI?

  • Have I explained why certain tasks are AI-permitted or tapu?

2. Inclusion & Accessibility

  • Have I offered more than one way to show understanding (audio, written, visual, discussion)?

  • Have I reduced cognitive load (plain language versions, structured prompts, exemplars)?

  • Have I checked that AI outputs won’t disadvantage ESOL or neurodivergent learners?

3. Cultural Integrity

  • Does the assessment uplift learner identity, or overwrite it?

  • Have I considered Aotearoa context, whakapapa, and local knowledge?

  • Am I confident the AI tool won’t misrepresent te ao Māori content?

4. Privacy & Data Sovereignty

  • Do learners know where their data goes when using a tool?

  • Have I offered an opt-out pathway if the tool stores data offshore?

  • Have I avoided tools that compromise Māori or Pacific data sovereignty?

5. Critical Thinking

  • Have I embedded at least one “AI critique” question?

  • Do learners evaluate outputs, not just generate them?

  • Have I reviewed AI exemplars for bias or inaccuracy?

B. Ākonga Checklist — Using AI Safely & Wisely

1. Understanding the Task

  • Do I know how much AI I’m allowed to use?

  • Have I asked if I’m unsure?

  • Am I confident the final work reflects my own thinking?

2. Using AI Ethically

  • Did I prompt AI ethically and respectfully?

  • Did I avoid putting personal or whānau information into the tool?

  • Have I declared how I used AI?

3. Thinking for Myself

  • What did I add that AI could not?

  • What did AI get wrong, biased, or incomplete?

  • How did I use AI to support — not replace — my learning?

4. Cultural Awareness

  • Does the AI response accurately reflect my culture and community?

  • Are any perspectives missing?

  • What would I teach the AI to make it more accurate?

5. Protecting My Voice

  • Does the final work still sound like me?

  • Have I preserved my identity, context, and examples?

  • Is this a task where AI should not be involved (e.g. whakapapa, lived experience, wairua)?

C. Kaupapa Māori Lens — The Four Tikanga Touchstones

These keep teaching aligned with the deeper intent of LP4.

🪶 Mana: Protecting Learner Dignity

  • Does this task respect each learner’s mana motuhake?

  • Have I removed practices that shame or expose learners publicly?

🪶 Whakapapa: Tracing Knowledge

  • Have I invited students to map the whakapapa of their ideas?

  • Is AI framed as one source among many, not the authority?

🪶 Whanaungatanga: Teaching as Relationship

  • Have I held space for dialogue about AI — not just rules?

  • Does my assessment structure encourage connection, not isolation?

🪶 Kaitiakitanga: Guardianship of Data + Story

  • Are we protecting cultural knowledge, stories, and data as taonga?

  • Have I avoided handing sacred or sensitive material to AI?

D. Quick-Start Template: Add to Any Assessment

(Copy/paste into Moodle, Canvas, Microsoft Teams, or PDF instructions.)

AI Use for This Task:

  • ✔ Permitted for brainstorming

  • ✔ Permitted for critique

  • ✔ Reflection required

  • ✘ Not permitted for personal stories or whakapapa

  • ✘ Not permitted for final wording without revision

To submit, include:

  • One AI screenshot (or copied prompt)

  • Two sentences on what you changed and why

  • One insight about the limits of AI for this task

Short, sharp, transparent.