AI in education
AI is considered with every student at Heath Kirby Tutoring — practical, actionable, tailored advice, based on real experience and real cases.
Increasingly, AI is being used across universities and other education institutions. In 2026, institutions have established policies on the use of generative AI across a wide range of assessments, and those policies can vary between disciplines. At the same time, a great amount of research is currently underway into the best-practice use of AI in education.
While the policies may differ, the "how to" of using AI in assessments is very similar. The use of AI is consistent across disciplines, year levels and assessment types. Commonly, students use AI to help complete written submissions and presentations, including developing the written scripts for recorded and live presentations.
Australia's new Office of AI does not mention education. There is a minefield of discussion online and offline about AI in education. Tutoring companies claim to be ethical, compliant, and aligned with TEQSA standards. Some even quote particular clauses to appear smart. This page cuts through that: what you must declare, how to declare it, and what happens when things go wrong.
Declaration required
Generative AI use requires a declaration. The most common types of AI use that students must declare are:
Outlines created to help structure an assessment.
Tables, figures, coding, images or videos created using an AI tool.
You used a prompt to advise on tone, clarity, expression and the flow of ideas between sentences, paragraphs and sections.
A good declaration covers three things:
Ask yourself: are those records available on request? A simple habit that works well is keeping a log of your chat conversations pasted into a text document. If a question is ever raised, you can show exactly what you asked and what you did with the answer.
Your institution will provide you with a template. Use it. Then match the formatting: the same font type, size and spacing as the rest of the assessment. The declaration should read as a normal part of your submission, not an afterthought bolted onto the end.
Heath Kirby Tutoring gives practical, actionable, tailored advice — based on real experience and real cases. AI is considered with every student at Heath Kirby Tutoring.
Not the fantasy and the unknown, or the big words that mean nothing to today's students. Just what you need, when you need it, in the way that helps you progress: which uses need declaring, how to word the declaration, and what records to keep as you go.
Documents sent to us as part of any assessment are checked for AI use. This check is preliminary, and it can be the basis for a further discussion during lessons about AI in any of a student's assessments.
Why is the check performed? Because it is part of our commitment to compliance, ethics and governance of the tutoring process. It is far better to have that conversation with your tutor before submission than with your institution after it.
Before coming to Heath Kirby Tutoring, students have had false AI accusations made against them. An accusation will typically result in the student having to appear at a Discipline Panel hearing. That hearing is an opportunity for the student to justify their use of AI and provide further explanation.
Our students have had false AI-accusations made, appeared before Discipline Panels (before meeting us!), and more. So, for every lesson (if you need it), the focus is on the responsible use of AI, and what you can do when AI seems to be the enemy. Clear declarations and good records, like the chat log above, are exactly what make that explanation straightforward.
Want to talk it through for your own situation? You are welcome to contact us — Heath will give you a straight, practical answer.
