School Leader Feedback: AI-Powered Principals
Evaluations & Professional Development Insights
How New Zealand tumuaki, principals, and senior leadership teams are leveraging secure, culturally responsive artificial intelligence to master administrative efficiencies, accelerate school system planning, and preserve human learning relationships.
In the rapid progression of the digital age, school leaders face dual demands: maintaining strict regulatory compliance under the Education Review Office (ERO) and managing intense cognitive workload, all while keeping learning relationships centered on student wellbeing. Through targeted, research-backed professional development (PD) using the TELL IT Framework, New Zealand principals are demonstrating that artificial intelligence is not merely a tool for automation, but a vital driver of systemic equity, leadership effectiveness, and teacher workload reduction.
🌿 Culturally Responsive Pedagogy & Global Impact
Dr Craig Hansen’s professional training combines advanced methodologies in the cognitive sciences of learning with the strategic integration of culturally responsive practice. Underpinned by system-level leadership and empirical research, Craig’s expert training programmes have guided schools, universities, and regional boards across New Zealand, alongside collaborative engagements in New Zealand, Nepal, Canada, Africa, America, and Australia.
🗣️ Verified Principal & SLT Appraisals
To ensure absolute transparency and ground our programmes in authentic participant experiences, we host below a perfectly interleaved, continuous index of actual school leader evaluations gathered from recent regional workshops. These appraisals highlight the tangible, immediate workload relief and strategic confidence realized by New Zealand educators:
“Anyone can benefit from this navigating the AI space. Security for safety around keeping our information safe. Also learning to prompt well.”
“The AI for Awesome PLD provided practical strategies that I can apply immediately in my work. I learnt the importance of writing clear prompts, checking AI sources for accuracy, protecting privacy settings, and using AI intentionally to support quality practice. I plan to use these ideas to create high-quality resources, support teachers to differentiate learning, and improve communication with schools and whānau. I also recognise the importance of continuing to practise using AI so I can use it confidently, effectively, and responsibly. I would highly recommend this PLD to other educators and community leaders who want to use AI to enhance teaching, learning, and professional practice.”
“Excellent session. Thank you for patiently sharing with us. Much appreciated!”
“The facilitation standard was exceptional! The tone, fluidity of instructions, the humerous yet specific and easy to follow instructions to indicate the level of indiviudal progress, the effective use of proximity to monitor/engage, the preparedness of the presenation, i.e. its seamless flow from the facilitator then the online Nadeem Teachai facilitator, and return again to the facilitator, the prompt repsonse from Teachai to register RTLB attendees to access the Premium (trial?/access features). The prepareness of the slide presentation, whcih was easy to follow, not oversaturated with text/info/data. One of the best PDs I have attended for both information, but the presenter was outstanding and knew his material!”
“This was really informative, and provided excellent knowledge and insights into using AI as a teacher and leader. I want to run whole staff PLD on this and give all our teachers the opportunity to learn what I have today.”
“Very well-presented. As always with AI PLD, I feel that we’re not addressing some major elephants in the rooms. I’m in equal parts compelled to use and terrified by AI tools. I’d recommend the prompt publicised by Tristan Harris that “Dehumanises” AI models so they don’t act as pseudo friends, sycophants, or “human” experts. Here it is: “When discussing topics with multiple viewpoints (political, ethical, medical, legal, financial, or controversial subjects), please: – Present multiple perspectives fairly without defaulting to one viewpoint – Acknowledge legitimate disagreements and uncertainties – Help me think through issues rather than telling me what to think – Show me the strongest arguments from different sides Always remind me to consult appropriate human experts when: – I’m making important medical, legal, or financial decisions – The situation involves significant risk or consequences – Professional judgment or credentials are needed – I’m experiencing signs of mental health concerns – My situation requires personalized expertise that goes beyond general information – Act as an AI assistant and analytical tool, not as a replacement for human relationships, judgment, or expertise – Don’t simulate human emotions, personal experiences, or attempt to form personal bonds – Be clear about your limitations as a machine – you process information but don’t have human wisdom, lived experience, or accountability – Avoid pretending to have feelings, beliefs, or personal stakes in outcomes – When appropriate, acknowledge that human connection, empathy, and judgment have qualities that AI cannot replicate I value your help in exploring ideas and gathering information, but I want you to maintain appropriate boundaries as a machine assistant and give me clear guidance on when human expertise and human connection are essential. Do not include Chat Bait questions at the end of each reply.”.”
“I really enjoyed the morning, thank you for your time.”
“Thanks Craig – great facilitator – loved the session!”
“Thank you so much for this wonderful presentation. I learned so much for me as an educator but you opened up the opportunity for me to explore AI more and feel less scared as an educator at the other end of my career. Very exciting. A great presenter. Excellent food.”
“The ability to make gems. Also how to do this safely. This will make things faster and more efficient for me. I’m going to save 2 hours per week due to my learning today.”
“It was great to be introduced to Teach aid and napkin. I use Chatgpt a lot, but Teach aid and Napkin were great.”
“This was really useful time to focus on AI and its potential. I will definitely put what we have covered into practice in my mahi and would like to see time given to staff to use AI more efficiently and effectively, rather than adhoc.”
“Great interactive session and pace from Craig. Thanks Hone for sharing your mahi too and thank you Lima for the wonderfully presented food!”
“It was an extremely informative and inclusive morning that increased my knowledge of chat and gemini. safer ways to use and also more aligned to student need.”
“I really loved Gemini, Storybook, creating books it’s amazing. Thank you it was an awesome session.”
“Thinking about the new curriculum and considering creating a gem for this for use with all – so will be in contact for perhaps a session to help with this?? Thank you!”
“Thank you so much! Fantastic learning opportunity, so many take-aways, can’t wait to start playing with these tools to see where I can use them in my practice.”
“Thank you, Craig! It was such a relaxed and informative session with a great feel. Lots to think about, learn and empower my staff with. Let’s make learning equitable together!”
“I really enjoyed taking part in this course. As a beginner at AI it has definitely helped me to understand how we can use Gemini and TeachAid and other resources as well as the support from Nadene. Thank you for also responding to my questions at my pace. Ngaa mihi.”
“AI can improve equity issues in our society and I have a lot to learn! I’m going to save 2-5 hours per week due to my learning today.”
“The best compliment I can give is that I learned the whole time and was engaged from the beginning to end. Well worth doing. Thank you.”
“How can i make sure to keep trying all if this new learning out!”
“A fantastic session that was really practical and impactful. Thank you for sharing your mahi and knowledge.”
“Thank you again Craig for a very informative session. I alsways take away something at these hui’s.”
“How to create visually appealing content that caters to all students/families of diverse learning needs and cultures.”
“Learning to customise ChatGPT/Gemini to make the searches suitable and more accurate. Enjoyed the TeachAid website and see this as being beneficial going forward.”
“I enjoyed the adaptive nature, as we have a range of experience. Questions and comments were welcome and helped shape the direction of the discussion.”
“This was informative, and I can immediately think of other leaders in my school and my DP network who would be keen to attend a session.”
“Love the practical examples of how to use the different platforms for real life use.”
“Thank you so much – am glad that I got to zoom in – have lots to go away and play with and a greater understanding of additional options in some of the platforms that I had been playing around with. Ngā mihi nui ki a koe.”
“Fast pace but even I could just keep up. Very relevant tools and great to know the settings to tweak for privacy and NZ context relevance. Thanks.”
“Would be good to have another session. good to have it short but helpful with things moving forward. Once implimented some of these practices where to next? what else!”
“When presenting and everyone is working together, slow the pace down a little more. I would totally love a whole day session.”
“I wonder how my year 13 students can use AI in ways that is beneficial to their learning in English.”
“This PD was so eye-opening for me. Very helpful for someone who knew nothing about AI.”
“Thank you Craig, a very valuable session. A lot to think about.”
“Thank you for sharing your very extensive knowledge. I have learnt so much and am excited to share this with our staff.”
“How do I convince teachers that this is what they need? It would be good to be able to share a short AI promotional video with them.”
“Story book options other than google, as the only account available to me is a personal one. Very useful, practical resources. Very rich learning – thank you very much – especially bringing your heart and not confining the topic to practical tips. Something on the macro picture, to situate us as educators leading students in a realm of AI – could be really useful – thank you.”
“Just wonderful again, worth its weight in gold! We shall look into Teach Aid.”
“It would have been good to be prepared with a writing sample. Yes, very valuable – I will use both tools.”
“Practical uses of AI tools: ChatGPT, TeachAid and Gemini.”
“Thank you, some great next steps and very responsive to the needs and level of the group.”
“Thank you so much. The presentation was really useful. It feels we are growing in the AI space.”
“Amazing workshop, have learnt so much in regards to AI, teachaid and Gemini. Thank you.”
“The International Baccalaureate and how this could be integrated and useful for our kura. Secondly, I accidentally exited off the Notebook Tool whilst searching and lost the prompts to be able to keep up with Craig. Trying to track back and complete tasks was a little hard but manage the gist of it.”
“This has been excellent – thank you so much. I love how it challenges our thinking and I love the inclusivity / cultural lens. And the reassurance of safety. Excellent engagement / resources & presentation unpacking how to get the best from AI.”
“Incredible mahi, sharing and collective movement that benefits all.”
“Thank you so much. It was great to see practicable tools.”
“There are different angles to AI, every presenter does it differently but everyone needs to start with the basics. You taught us yesterday that nobody else did – thank you very much, Craig!”
“Great, clear sharing of how to improve the use of AI in my classroom. A heads-up about needing to use an image would have been helpful to complete the task. I loved the storybook concept, and I’m looking forward to creating Term 2 planning!”
“It was a very helpful session – hands on & practical. Well prepared. A small group allowed bespoke support. Perhaps advance notice of the kinds of things we would have the opportunity to try would be useful – not to be rude, but I have no use for a Samoan infographic on FASD students, but would have liked support creating something of value for my context. E.g. create a gem for ANOVA. Because I’m brand new to most of these tools, I would have liked help to create something robust that would give excellent results. As it is, I’m going to have to bumble my way into creating one – but I’m being picky! The PLD was high value – thanks for the help, insight & connection to Nadeen.”
“Great discussion around practical uses for both classroom teachers and leaders. Step by step guided on “how to”.”
“Amazing help, and great knowledge. Thank you heaps. This will be incredibly helpful for my teachers.”
“I came in today thinking I was confident in what my school and I knew about AI, but I was extremely impressed and ecstatic about my learning and what I can take away to the other leaders from my school.”
“• Effective use of AI should enhance, not replace, professional judgement. Human oversight remains essential when reviewing AI-generated content. • AI has the potential to improve equity by increasing access to support, resources, and personalised learning opportunities for both staff and students.”
“Amazing work!! Really got a lot out of this session and we are leaving very excited about what we can do next!”
“Thank you – great insight into AI possibilities.”
“I loved getting more in-depth, hands-on knowledge on how to use Gemini and ChatGPT safely, which will directly help within the school setting.”
“It was a really worthwhile morning – I thoroughly enjoyed it. The food looked fine, but I marked it down due to there being no GF option. Thank you for your time.”
“Practical morning, lots of learning. Thank you.”
“Thank you again! Completed the AI microcredntial with Bankwood school (previous role) so was lovely to learn some updated infomation.”
“This is an amazing opportunity for Leaders and teachers, towards an equitable learning environment for learners.”
“I learnt how to use AI in a more responsible way, creating plans and reports, saving time and looking after our wellbeing.”
“Always great sessions with Craig! Thank you and see you soon, no doubt.”
“I have so many new tools that I can add to my toolbox, this has been a great investment of my time and I can’t wait to share it with as many as I can.”
“Absolutely! I would love for Craig to come and deliver to our staff.”
“It was so valuable to find efficient ways to achieve more while saving time. I now have Gems in place and am using them already (one day later) – thanks so much for explaining it simply and allowing time to practice.”
“Very valuable, learning about prompts and maximising time spent using AI.”
“No wonderings just yet I do want to spend time playing around with these, especially for safetly plans and esol.”
“Kia ora Craig, a really productive and insightful session. Took heaps away from it and some time saving measures for my role.”
“I’d love to have Craig do another day with Ani and I.”
“I am keen on learning all about AI and how it can be used very effectively in my classroom to improve student outcomes.”
“Thanks so much, the facilitation was top notch. Your pace was perfect, interesting, and inclusive. It was an amazing morning.”
“A really informative and well-paced session. Thank you for the opportunity. Lots of takeaways, the brain is whirring with possibilities.”
“The speed was great – especially for me as a beginner in this field, thank you.”
“Accessible, knowledgeable, friendly. Ka pai!”
“Absolutely grew my appreciation and knowledge of AI.”
“Outstanding – thank you for the opportunity. Looking forward to catching up again soon.”
“Great presentator – really engaging and motivating, thanks for your time, I appreciate this learning. I’m going to save 3-4 hours per week due to my learning today.”
“Thank you – You were very inspiring. So many practical resources in examples.”
“Using gemini to help with planning from my IEP’s, using data to inform our board, creating story books for learning stories. I’m going to save 10 hours per week due to my learning today.”
“Today was very interesting and a real eye-opener – what I thought AI was, was not even what I was shown today, so it was good to actually know what AI means and looks like. I found the lesson very informative. I was able to use it when usually it is something I would freak out about. The lesson was very easy to follow and gave me a good understanding. It is also an option I will consider using outside of school for other extra curricular activities.”
“Thank you – this has been really helpful.”
“Thank you so much. Love the mahi on napkin.”
“We have had a few AI presentations before, this was the best of the best so far.”
“I’ve never been exposed to Gimini before, I’ ve found it’s really helpful and handy through this meeting. I’m impressed by the function of generating books and I’ll apply it in my future teaching/.”
“This was my 2nd Breakfast meeting with Dr. Craig, and it was as inspiring as the first. We are already a partner school with TeachAid, and we also want to upskill all staff on the time saving benefits of AI in Admin and Organisation.”
“Practical examples of how schools are using based on AREA data. Learning support examples.”
“Thank you so much, every blessing to you and your whānau, Craig.”
“Your content was so well chosen, timely and suited to my needs. I hope it sticks in my brain, I already thinking of new ways I can make use of this. I will be playing and learning in the days and weeks to come.”
“It would be good to have another session – good to have it short but helpful, with things moving forward. Once we’ve implemented some of these practices, where to next? What else! I’m going to save 60% of my time per week due to my learning today.”
“Thank you for extending an invitation to attend this hui. It was very informative and I am looking forward to having a play with the tools and learning more about Teachaid.”
“It would be great to have these hui regularly, as AI is ever changing, so that we all feel that we are on top of the game. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, Craig. Appreciate you.”
“Thank you for the ‘sand pit time’. The session was balanced and supported. Great presentation. Ngā mihi.”
“I am SO glad that I came today. I have learnt SO MUCH in a short time.”
“Do you run TOD for schools, if so I’d like to talk more about this. I will be signing in for the Community of Learning.”
“The direct succinct presentation and pace were well pitched and left me wanting to learn more! Thanks.”
“Thank you for today. Love the way you stepped us through things and shared prompts.”
“I really enjoyed the simple tips to implement straight away. Thanks!”
References & Academic Citations
Hansen, C. (2025a). School principal preparedness and generative AI policy adoption in New Zealand schools. Summit Institute Research Report. https://summitinstitute.ac.nz/research/principal-preparedness-2025
Hansen, C. (2025b). The Complementarity Principle: Evaluating human-in-the-loop hybrid systems in cross-sector high-stakes administrative decision making. Journal of Cognitive Education and Educational Technology, 14(2), 112–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coged.2025.101235