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Session 4. Equity, Access and Assessment Integrity
Objective. Run a simple access audit, redesign tasks so that no pupil is disadvantaged, redesign assessment so that learning can be verified, and hold a fair, private conversation when misuse is suspected.
Two promises about AI often collide in a school: that it will help every child, and that marks will still mean something. Both can be kept, but not by accident and not by catching pupils. They are kept by designing tasks so that every pupil can do them and so that the teacher can see what each pupil knows. This lesson goes beyond the key ideas: it widens equity beyond devices, and shows how to match assessment to its purpose so that detectors are not needed.
Key ideas
Who is left out?
- AI can widen gaps. Pupils with their own device, fast internet, paid tools and a parent who can help gain more than pupils who share one phone with the family.
- Language, disability and learning needs also matter: a tool that works well in English may fail in Uzbek or for a pupil who needs adapted material.
- The core rule: never require AI use that depends on resources at home. Any task must be possible in school or on paper.
A simple access audit
- Ask five things about a class: devices, connection, home support, language of the tool, and special needs. Use counts from what you already know and a short anonymous show of hands, not a list of names.
- Turn the counts into design choices: shared devices in school hours, a printed version of every resource, groups that mix experience, teacher-prepared materials.
- Often the fairest use is the teacher's: you use AI to prepare better paper materials, and every pupil benefits.
Assessment integrity without detectors
- AI-text detectors give guesses, not proof. Research found that some popular detectors wrongly flagged writing by people who write in a second language (Liang and colleagues, 2023). Never punish on a detector alone.
- Match the task to its purpose. If you want to know whether pupils can write, assess writing in class. If you want them to use AI well, assess that openly, with a record of what they asked and changed.
- Build verification in: drafts in class, a two-minute oral explanation, process evidence, local and personal content, short checks that compare with take-home work.
A fair conversation when misuse is suspected
- Talk privately, soon, and with curiosity: 'Tell me how you wrote this.' Ask the pupil to explain a paragraph or redo a short part in front of you.
- Base the decision on facts and the published policy: drafts, the pupil's explanation, earlier work. Record facts, not guesses, and apply the same rule to every pupil.
- Protect dignity and confidentiality: no public accusations, no discussion in the staff room, and involve the head or parents only as school procedure says.
Three kinds of task
Practice at home
Low stakes
- AI may be allowed
- Paper route always exists
- Little or no mark
Work with checks
Medium stakes
- Draft in class
- Short oral explanation
- Local or personal detail
Certifying a skill
High stakes
- Done in class, no AI
- Teacher sees the process
- Same rules for everyone
Equity is more than a device
Access has layers. A pupil may have a phone but no data, a device but no quiet place, internet but no adult who can help, or a tool that works in English and poorly in Uzbek or Karakalpak. When you design a task, read it through the eyes of the pupil with the fewest resources.
The fairest uses are often teacher-side: you use AI to prepare better paper materials, extra practice in two levels or a clearer explanation, and every pupil gets the benefit. In-school access can help too, such as a shared device in a library corner with a timetable. Always keep a paper route that gives the same learning and the same marks. Never ask pupils to show or explain what they lack in front of others.
Match assessment to its purpose
Ask what a task is for. If it is to learn, AI may be welcome and the mark can be low-stakes, or none. If it is to certify that a pupil can do something alone, the task should happen under conditions where you can see the pupil's own work, such as a short in-class write or an oral check. If the purpose is to learn to use AI well, assess that openly: what the pupil asked, what they changed and why.
Build verification into the task: a draft in class, a two-minute explanation of one paragraph, a local or personal detail that a general tool does not know, a short follow-up question. Detectors give guesses, and research has shown they can be unfair to people writing in a second language, so they should never decide a case alone.
Examples from the classroom
The oral minute
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 9 history in Fergana. Pupils write a take-home essay about Navruz traditions. In the next lesson he asks each pupil, while the others read, to explain one paragraph in one minute. He needs only 12 minutes for 24 pupils. Pupils who wrote their own essay explain easily; two who did not ask to redo part of it in class. No detector was used.
Insight. A short conversation verifies learning better than a tool and keeps relationships intact.
Two languages at home
Scene. Malika teaches in a Russian-medium school in Tashkent where nine pupils speak Uzbek at home. She notices that an AI tool gives clear explanations in Russian but awkward ones in Uzbek. She prepares the explanation sheet herself in both languages, checks the Uzbek with a colleague and prints it. All pupils receive the same quality of support.
Insight. Equity includes language, and teacher preparation can close the gap.
A school without reliable internet
Scene. In a village school near Nukus the internet works only some mornings. Dilnoza, the head of science, uses AI at home once a week to prepare printed problem sets at two difficulty levels. Pupils do the sets on paper, and she checks a sample in class. The tool never appears in the classroom, but every pupil benefits.
Insight. Where access is limited, the teacher's own preparation can be the fairest use of AI.
Common pitfalls
- Setting a home task that quietly needs a device or fast internet.
- Trusting a detector flag as proof, especially for pupils writing in a second language.
- Announcing suspicions in front of the class instead of talking privately.
- Banning AI for pupils but not stating what you will do to verify their work.
Audit, Redesign, Converse
- Open the Activity Kit: SAMPLE class data (Grade 8, 36 pupils, counts only), three tasks and one suspected-misuse case (3 min).
- Pairs (12 min): read the counts and mark, for each of the three tasks, who would be left out. Write one sentence of impact for each.
- Pairs (15 min): redesign each task with the ladder in the Kit: (1) doable in school or on paper, (2) includes a verification step, (3) says clearly whether AI may be used and how it is recorded.
- Trios (10 min): read the suspected-misuse case. Decide which facts you have, which you do not, and plan the first three minutes of a private conversation.
- Second short activity (10 min): role-play the conversation with the script in the Kit: teacher, pupil and observer. The observer notes one phrase that kept the pupil's dignity. Rotate once.
- Alone (5 min): write your school-based task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which task surprised you by leaving more pupils out than you expected?
- What is the difference between a clue and proof in the misuse case?
- Which sentence in the conversation kept the pupil able to tell the truth?
Reflect
- Which of your current homework tasks quietly depends on a home device or connection?
- What do you do today when you doubt that a pupil wrote their work?
- Which assessment in your department already verifies learning well?
Try it tomorrow
- Read tomorrow's homework as the pupil with the fewest resources and change one thing so that it is fair.
- Add a two-minute oral check or a short in-class write to one take-home task.
- Write one sentence that states the purpose of your next assessment: learn, certify or learn to use AI.
Further reading and links
Design every task to be possible in school or on paper, verify learning inside the task, and treat suspicion as a conversation, not a verdict.