China has plans to introduce AI education in all primary and secondary schools by 2030. By 2035, it aims to make AI integral to textbooks, exams and classrooms at all levels. This is a big change for school leaders, just as it is for leaners. Over half of school principals are aged 45 years or older. Put yourself in the shoes of one of these principals and imagine what this would mean to your approach to work. Our recent regional edition for East Asia, Lead for technology, looked at the ramifications.
AI is sweeping across schools rapidly
If AI became a buzzword around the time of the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, school leaders in China were already using it before then. In 2021, 38% of principals reported that their schools carried out AI-assisted teaching activities. More than half were already using or preparing to use AI in teaching and learning. Some schools have since gone further, integrating AI-powered virtual teaching assistants, allowing students to ask questions to historical figures. Others have created robotics courses which teach students about AI.
In 2024, the Ministry of Education announced a list of 184 primary and secondary schools selected as AI education bases. It encouraged school leaders to use AI-supported education in national policy documents as part of this shift. This fast transition has had quite an impact on the expectations of school leaders and on their responsibilities. It has subsequently also made a difference to the type of support that they require to do their jobs.
Expectations, responsibilities and support measures for school leaders are changing
In 2013, the Ministry of Education had declared that expectations for school leaders would include ‘mastery of the general principles and methods of applying information technology in the field of education’. In 2014, the Ministry produced a set of standards for school leaders that can be applied to education technology. These were updated in 2022 to cover a fairly long list: leading development; collaborating for innovation; improving information literacy; planning and designing; organizing and implementing; evaluating; and promoting.
The Guide to Artificial Intelligence General Education in Primary and Secondary Schools, released in 2025, meanwhile, lays out responsibilities for teachers to customize learning using AI, to conduct evaluations using AI, and to promote collaboration with parents. Principals need to have a strong understanding of data to fit the bill. The Ministry of Education is working on a plan whereby schools would be responsible for establishing data standards, creating data resource catalogues and developing data sets on teachers, students, teaching and research. More than half of schools in China have already established their own digital management platforms.
Faced with this change, principals no doubt need support in digital and AI skills, in data planning, processing management, and execution skills. This support is coming. Training has been delivered to over 60 of the 339 prefectures already, and technical support teams are also provided to support school leaders with the transition. They also need support in helping staff to use the data to analyse students’ learning and development processes.
Outside of technical issues, however, using data in this way brings ethical issues to education governance, which school leaders need to be trained in. Many Chinese schools collect vast amounts of data on the behaviour of students using facial recognition software, for instance, leading to privacy concerns. Such concerns are driving different initiatives to ensure the transition remains in check. The Ministry of Education’s AI Empowerment Education Initiative, for example, outlines four specific actions related to the integration of AI in education, including ethics for leaders. The Guidelines for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Primary and Secondary Schools also discuss safeguards to ensure the safe and compliant use of data and the protection of the rights and interests of teachers and students.
Technical skills and awareness of the risks are critical if school leaders are to implement some of the far-reaching AI-related education reforms being envisaged. What is also critical, however, is that principals also feel confident to objectively reflect on the effectiveness of the devices for teaching, learning and system management. Digital transformation is an exciting prospect, but the voices of principals that can feed back on its practical ramifications in schools and for learners are vital for feeding back on reforms for review and adjustment.
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