Should My Child Use AI Tools for Homework and Learning?

AI doing your child's homework for them is a problem. AI helping them understand something they're stuck on is something else entirely. Here's how to tell the difference.

The question every parent is quietly asking

Your child has a piece of homework. They're stuck. They open ChatGPT, type the question, and get an answer. Do you let it slide? Do you intervene? Is this cheating, or is it just using a tool — the same way a previous generation used encyclopaedias, calculators, or Google?

This is genuinely new territory and there are no perfect answers. But there are some useful distinctions worth making.

The difference between AI doing the work and AI helping to understand it

This is the most important line to draw, and it's worth being explicit with your child about it.

Using AI to do the work means typing in the homework question and copying the answer. The child submits something that isn't theirs. They don't understand the underlying concept any better than before. The teacher gets a misleading picture of where they are. Nobody benefits — least of all the child, who has missed the learning the homework was designed to produce.

Using AI to understand is a completely different thing. A child who is stuck on a maths concept can ask an AI to explain it in a different way — simpler, with an example, or from a different angle. A child who doesn't understand why the Romans invaded Britain can ask for an explanation and then write their own answer in their own words. A child who is learning spellings can ask for the rule that governs a particular pattern.

In those cases, AI is doing something a good tutor would do: meeting the child where they are and helping them understand. The thinking and the work still belong to the child.

Age matters — a lot

For younger primary-aged children (roughly Year 1 to Year 4), the honest answer is that AI tools aren't appropriate for independent use at all. The fundamental skills being built at this stage — reading, writing, number sense, phonics — need to be practised by the child without shortcuts. Using AI at this stage doesn't just miss the learning; it can actively get in the way of it.

For older primary children (Year 5 and 6), the conversation gets more nuanced. Children at this stage are beginning to develop the metacognitive skills to use a tool and reflect on what they've learned from it. With guidance, some uses of AI are appropriate — but that guidance needs to come from parents and teachers, not be left to the child to navigate alone.

Three questions to ask your child

If your child has used AI for homework, three questions cut through the ambiguity quickly:

1. "Can you explain this to me in your own words?" — if they can't, they haven't learned it.
2. "Did you write this or did AI write it?" — be matter of fact, not accusatory. Make honesty the norm.
3. "What did you find hard about it?" — the hardness is the learning. If AI removed the hardness entirely, it may have removed the learning too.

What schools should be doing

This is ultimately a conversation that parents and schools need to have together. Schools should have a clear position on AI and homework — what is and isn't acceptable — and they should communicate that to parents clearly. If your school hasn't done this yet, it's worth raising.

At AskColin, one of the things we help schools do is develop clear, parent-friendly communication about AI — including safe use guidance that covers exactly these questions. If your school could use support with this, we'd be happy to help.