For teachers and school leaders
Free Teacher professional development in artificial intelligence
A twenty-hour course for the teacher who has been asked to start an AI programme — and is not a computer scientist. It does not teach you to code. It teaches you to run the room: integrity and AI-use policy, student safety, fair selection, the coaching method, and competition day.
The course is ICOA Coach Level 1, delivered in Australia by the Australia STEM and Robotics Advancement Association, the Australian member organisation for the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence. It is aligned to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the Proficient level.
Register your interest Download the full syllabus · PDF, 7 pages
Counts toward your professional learning hours — in every state and territory
ICOA AI Coach (Level 1) is 20 hours of professional learning aligned to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, with a certificate of completion you can record with your teacher regulatory authority.
| State / Territory | Authority | Requirement | ICOA AI Coach (Level 1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | NESANSW Education Standards Authority | 100 hours / 5 years | Compatible NESA Recognised Provider Record as professional learning against the Standards. |
| Victoria | VITVictorian Institute of Teaching | 20 hours / year | CompatibleTeacher-recorded professional learning. |
| Queensland | QCTQueensland College of Teachers | 20 hours / year | CompatibleCounts as teacher-identified CPD. |
| South Australia | TRB SATeachers Registration Board of South Australia | 60 hours / 3 years | CompatibleTeacher-recorded professional learning. |
| Western Australia | TRBWATeacher Registration Board of Western Australia | 100 hours / 5 years | CompatibleTeacher-recorded professional learning. |
| Tasmania | TRB TasmaniaTeachers Registration Board | 20 hours / year | CompatibleTeacher-recorded professional learning. |
| Northern Territory | TRB NTTeacher Registration Board of the Northern Territory | 20 hours / year | CompatibleTeacher-recorded professional learning. |
| Australian Capital Territory | TQIACT Teacher Quality Institute | 20 hours / year, at least 5 TQI-accredited | Compatible TQI accreditation: application in preparation Counts now toward your teacher-identified hours; the TQI-accredited portion once accreditation is granted. |
What “compatible” means. The course provides 20 hours of professional learning aligned to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Standards 2.6, 4.5, 6.2 and 7.4), delivered by ASRA — Australian STEM and Robotics Advancement Association Incorporated (ABN 72 265 367 521) — with a certificate of completion stating provider, hours and Standards. Except where stated, teacher regulatory authorities do not accredit or endorse professional learning; teachers determine its relevance to their own practice. Requirements are summarised as at September 2026 — check your authority for current rules.
The course
- Course
- ICOA Coach Level 1 — Accredited Coach
- Duration
- 20 hours — 14 hours self-directed, 4 hours facilitated seminar, 2 hours assessment
- Delivery
- Self-directed component online at your own pace; seminar delivered live online
- Assessment
- Four scenario checkpoints during the course, then a 40-question situational examination (90 minutes, 70% to pass, two attempts)
- Standards level
- Proficient Teacher
- Prerequisite
- Complete the first phase of any student track on a linked student account, so that you have used what your students will use
- On completion
- ICOA Accredited Coach, listed in the international coach register
Why the hours matter. NSW teachers maintain their accreditation by completing 100 hours of professional development in each maintenance period. This course is designed as a 20-hour block against that requirement, and the alignment table below names the focus areas it addresses so you can record it accurately.
What it covers
Forty-eight short modules across four phases, each ending in a scenario checkpoint where you decide what you would actually do — a student pastes an answer, a parent asks about screen time, two students want the same team place, a device set fails an hour before a contest.
- Framing the discipline — what is genuinely being assessed in AI competition work, and why
- Installation and devices — running a class of 25 on a shared device set, offline and low-bandwidth fallbacks
- Accounts and access — issuing and recovering student access, and what your school administrator can see
- Academic integrity and AI use — setting a defensible AI-use policy, reading process evidence, handling a suspected breach proportionately
- Minors, privacy and compliance — the Australian policy context in three distinct tiers, data minimisation, and the honest limits of the argument
- Selection and fairness — placing students by readiness rather than age, and selecting on evidence rather than impression
- Coaching the learning method — the teach / research / practise / project session, and how to answer a stuck student without removing the difficulty
- Competition day — preparation, timing, incidents, and the debrief afterwards
- Sustainable coaching — workload realism, and bringing a second staff member in before you burn out
- Reading student work — what a student's history and contest attempt tell you, and what they do not
Alignment to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
| Course strand | Focus areas | How it is addressed |
|---|---|---|
| Framing the discipline | 2.1 · 6.2 | What is assessed in AI competition work, and how it relates to your current practice |
| Installation and devices | 2.6 · 3.4 | Provisioning a shared or 1:1 device set; offline and low-bandwidth fallbacks |
| Accounts and access | 3.4 · 7.2 | Issuing, binding and recovering student access; record-keeping obligations |
| Academic integrity and AI use | 4.5 · 7.1 | Setting and communicating an AI-use policy; distinguishing assistance from substitution; acting on evidence |
| Minors, privacy and compliance | 4.4 · 7.2 | Australian policy in three tiers; data minimisation; what is never collected about a student |
| Selection and fairness | 1.5 · 5.1 · 5.4 | Placement by readiness; evidence-based team selection; common sources of unfairness |
| Coaching the learning method | 1.5 · 2.1 · 3.5 | Session structure, the silent research block, responding to a stuck student |
| Competition day | 3.5 · 5.1 | Running a supervised contest session and debriefing performance afterwards |
| Sustainable coaching | 6.2 · 6.3 | Workload realism, building in a second staff member, using the coach network |
| Reading student work | 2.1 · 2.6 | Reading a student's history and contest attempt as a coach |
Focus areas addressed: 1.5, 2.1, 2.6, 3.4, 3.5, 4.4, 4.5, 5.1, 5.4, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2. Primary emphasis on 4.5, 7.1 and 4.4 (integrity, ethics and safety) and on 1.5 and 5.4 (differentiation and evidence-based selection).
Who it is for
- The teacher who has been handed an AI club, an elective, or an enrichment group
- Science, mathematics, TAS and computing teachers, including those with no programming background
- Teacher librarians and gifted-and-talented coordinators running an extension group
- School leaders who need one accredited staff member before the programme starts
After Level 1
An accredited coach can establish a school AI club under the ICOA framework, enter students into national selection, and access the coaching resources and contest calendar for the year. Whole-staff sessions and a Level 2 instructor pathway are available to schools already running a programme.
Register your interest
Tell us the school and who would attend, and we will send the next available dates. We collect the school name, the teacher's name and a contact email — nothing about students.
Register your interest in teacher PD Register your school for the student programme
School-wide sessions, multi-teacher rates and in-person delivery in the Sydney region: contact us for a quote.