The Castlereagh Statement

As written on Australia Vocational Education and Training (VET) Development Centre website on "The Castlereagh Statement – a whole of sector ‘call to action’ on AI article posted on 22 April 2026.

Educators from across Australia and across the education sectors came together in late 2025, hosted by the University of Sydney in its ‘Castlereagh St’ campus – to discuss the state of AI in education in Australia.

The resulting Castlereagh Statement which came out of that meeting has recently been released.

The statement is a cross-sector call to action which argues that Australia’s education and training sectors must urgently adapt to the realities of artificial intelligence (AI), and that many aspects of our current systems (designed for a world where information was scarce) may no longer be fit for purpose in today’s era where AI can perform many tasks requiring human cognition.

While Australia has strong expertise and innovation across our education sectors, and also some of the leading thinkers, practitioners and researchers on AI in education; collectively across our schools, VET, higher education and lifelong learning providers our responses to AI thus far have often been fragmented and uncoordinated. This in turn creates risks for learners, employers, and for national productivity.

At the heart of the Statement are three overarching goals:

1. A shared definition of what we value in human educators and learners, and aligned measurement systems to support these
2. Coherent and scaffolded learning pathways from early childhood to lifelong learners, aligned with societal needs, and
3. Every Australian being capable of confidently, critically, and creatively engaging with AI.

For the VET sector, these goals reinforce a need to shift beyond a narrow ‘competency-only’ approach to AI, and instead towards educators also thinking through broader capabilities such as adaptability, judgement, and learning-to-learn.

The Statement outlines six foundational principles to guide reform, all of which have direct implications for VET. They are:

1. Redefining the educated, future-ready Australian
2. Institutional and individual humility
3. Reconceptualising learning and assessment
4. Designing an agile and capability-focused curriculum
5. Empowering teachers and redefining teaching
6. Placing technology in service of pedagogy and trust

To turn these ideas into actions, the report proposes a three-stage reform pathway with some common actions which could be taken across all sectors (including a “national coordinating and enabling body” to lead the work).

The appendix of the report also contains sector-specific ideas for the short, medium and longer-term.

In the short term, for VET specifically, they includes ideas such as:

• Communicating that responding to AI is a key priority
• The regulators coming together to issue joint guidance to VET providers on assessment integrity
• Piloting lessons from industry – e.g. making better use of the industry insights from mature-age VET students returning to VET to upskill but who already use AI in their workplaces
• National pilots of AI tools to improve RPL
• Continuing to progress VET Qualifications Reforms and the Future Skills Organisations’ AI pilots
• Uplifting the digital fluency and AI capability amongst teachers
• Continuing to expand the TAFE Technology Fund.

VDC News’ ghost writer was involved in developing the Castlereagh Statement and is a signatory to it. The work was led by Prof. Danny Liu (University of Sydney), Prof. Jason Lodge (University of Queensland), and Katie Ford (Microsoft).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Australia stands at a critical juncture. AI is fundamentally reshaping the capabilities our learners need, the work they will do, the society they will build, and the equal place of all within it. The rapid advancement of generative AI has necessitated deep interrogation of our assumptions about education and training, in particular what we value and what we measure. Our education and training systems were not designed for an AI-driven society where information and cognitive labour are abundant.

Jobs and Skills Australia (2025), the Productivity Commission (2025) and the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training (2024), amongst others, have all called for urgent, coordinated national action. Australia possesses the expertise to lead. What is missing is the coordination and collective courage to do so.

The Castlereagh Statement provides a unified national vision. It is built on three goals: a shared definition of what we value in human learners and educators, with aligned measurement systems; coherent learning pathways from early childhood to lifelong learning, aligned with societal needs; and every Australian being capable of confidently, critically, and creatively engaging with AI. Six foundational principles underpin these goals, from redefining the educated, future-ready Australian to placing technology in service of pedagogy.

To operationalise these principles, the Statement proposes a three-horizon framework for action. The near horizon addresses urgent stabilisation, including national guidelines on responsible AI use, structural assessment reform, and teacher upskilling. The medium horizon drives necessary structural transitions, including national learning networks for brave crosssector experimentation, curriculum reform to reduce duplication and overcrowding, realigned incentive structures, and dedicated time and funding for educators to pilot new approaches. The far horizon lays new foundations for education and training models centred on valued human capabilities, with seamless movement between formal, workplace, and community learning throughout life. A core contingency mechanism ensures the action framework can be accelerated if trigger signals, such as rapid labour market shifts or AI capability leaps, demand it.

Achieving this vision requires unprecented national, cross-sector, and multi-cultural coordination. The Castlereagh collective invites members of the government, education and training providers, curriculum and accreditation bodies, regulators, employers, and communities to join this movement, and they are committed to providing the evidence, networks, and momentum to make this successful. 

"Our future depends on us acting together, now."

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