UNESCO's AI competency frameworks are two free reference documents published in 2024: one sets 12 AI competencies for school students and the other sets 15 for teachers. Both were launched at UNESCO's Digital Learning Week in September 2024, and schools apply them by turning each competency into a target, an assessment and a record.
This guide is for school leaders, curriculum and quality coordinators, and education authorities, with notes for schools in the UAE.
What are UNESCO's AI competency frameworks?
UNESCO published the AI competency framework for students and the AI competency framework for teachers in 2024. They aim to help countries prepare students and teachers to understand both the potential and the risks of AI, and to use it safely, ethically and responsibly. Both are open access on UNESDOC, UNESCO's digital library.
The frameworks are references, not certification standards. UNESCO describes them as a basis for national competency frameworks, curricula, teacher training and assessment. No body certifies a school against them. A school can still show, with records, how it uses them.
Both take a human-centred approach. AI should support human decisions and learning, not replace them. UNESCO's summary of the teacher framework stresses that AI tools should complement, not replace, the role of teachers.
How do the student and teacher frameworks compare?
The two documents share a structure of dimensions and progression levels, but the content differs. The table summarises each one from UNESCO's own descriptions.
| Feature | Framework for students | Framework for teachers |
|---|---|---|
| Published | 2024 (UNESCO page dated 8 August 2024) | 2024 (52 pages, ISBN 978-92-3-100707-1) |
| Authors | Fengchun Miao, Kelly Shiohira, Natalie Lao | Fengchun Miao, Mutlu Cukurova |
| Competencies | 12 | 15 |
| Dimensions | Human-centred mindset, ethics of AI, AI techniques and applications, AI system design | Human-centred mindset, ethics of AI, AI foundations and applications, AI pedagogy, AI for professional learning |
| Progression levels | Understand, Apply, Create | Acquire, Deepen, Create |
| Main use | Integrating AI learning objectives into school curricula | National teacher competency frameworks, training and assessment |
| Arabic version | Yes | Yes |
The student framework sees students as responsible users and co-creators of AI. It encourages AI topics across subjects, in both STEM and the social studies. The teacher framework covers lifelong professional development, including how teachers use AI in their own teaching and learning.
How does a school turn the frameworks into evidence?
A competency claim needs four things behind it: a target, a baseline, a development plan and a verified result. The frameworks describe the competencies. They do not tell a school how to measure them, so the school has to decide that itself.
A workable sequence looks like this:
- Adopt and contextualise. Decide which competencies and which progression level apply to each staff group and each grade band, and record the decision.
- Find the gaps. Run a training needs analysis for teachers and a baseline for students against the chosen levels.
- Plan development. Write individual development plans for teachers and map student competencies to subjects and units.
- Assess with rubrics. Use the same rubric for each competency and progression level, so two assessors reach the same result.
- Verify independently. Have someone other than the trainer check a sample of assessments and observe AI use in class.
- Review. Report results to management and adjust the plan each year.
The record is what separates a competency statement from an attendance list. "Our staff attended AI training" proves attendance. A dated assessment against a named competency and level proves more. Schools that already run ISO 21001 can fit this into existing processes, as our ISO 21001:2025 guide explains.
What should a school AI governance system include?
Competency is one half of the work. The other half is controlling how AI is used day to day. Both UNESCO frameworks put ethics and human agency first, and governance is how a school puts that into practice.
A school AI governance system usually has five parts that feed each other:
- A governing manual that names an AI committee, its responsibilities and the controls it owns.
- An acceptable use policy for staff and students, with signed acknowledgements.
- A procedure for checking AI outputs for fabricated facts, citations and bias before they are used in teaching, assessment or decisions about a student.
- An audit checklist that measures how well the controls work and produces corrective actions.
- An AI risk register covering data protection, safeguarding, academic integrity and bias, reviewed on a set cycle.
Add a step for approving AI tools before anyone uses them with students. Record what data the tool collects, where it is stored and who can see it. The teacher framework itself warns that the data mining behind AI tools can threaten personal data privacy. If the school later wants a certifiable AI management system, ISO/IEC 42001 is the international standard for that, covered in our ISO/IEC 42001 guide.
What does this mean for schools in the UAE?
On 4 May 2025 the UAE Ministry of Education announced AI as an official subject in public schools from kindergarten to Grade 12, starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, as reported by WAM. The curriculum covers seven areas: foundational concepts, data and algorithms, software use, ethical awareness, real-world applications, innovation and project design, and policies and community engagement. It is taught within the Computing, Creative Design and Innovation subject.
The UNESCO frameworks do not replace the Ministry curriculum. They give a school a common language for staff competency, student outcomes and ethics alongside it. Private schools should check what their own regulator expects, because requirements differ by emirate and by curriculum.
Language matters here. Both UNESCO frameworks are available in Arabic, so a school can work from the same reference in Arabic and English. Keep the governing documents in both languages when staff, parents and inspectors use different ones.
How AGS can help
AGS has four kits for this work, in editable Microsoft Office files:
- UNESCO AI Competency Management System - Teachers & Students: 59 documents, including 15 procedures, 15 forms, inspection procedures and checklists for teacher and student AI competency, and training plans.
- School AI Quality & Governance Kit (English Edition): 6 documents, covering the manual structure, acceptable use policy, fact-check and bias validation SOP, audit checklist and AI risk register.
- School AI Quality & Governance Kit (Arabic Edition): the same 6 documents in Arabic.
- AI-Enhanced Lesson Design Toolkit for Teachers & Trainers: 36 documents in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, including a lesson design template, an AI literacy framework and self-assessment workbook, a responsible AI forms pack, a lesson quality score tool and prompt libraries for teachers.
Frequently asked questions
Can a school be certified to the UNESCO AI competency frameworks?
No. They are reference frameworks, not certification standards. A school can show how it applies them through its own assessment records and reviews.
Where can I download the frameworks?
Both are open access on UNESDOC, UNESCO's digital library. The teacher framework is published under a CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence.
Which framework should a school start with?
Most schools start with teachers, because teachers deliver the student competencies. A teacher baseline also shows where training is needed before student outcomes are assessed.
Do the frameworks cover generative AI?
Yes, within their wider scope. The teacher framework builds on UNESCO's earlier guidance for generative AI in education and research.
AGS provides independent documentation toolkits. UNESCO and the UAE Ministry of Education are named for identification only. AGS is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by either, and no kit guarantees an inspection or assessment outcome.
Reviewed October 2026. Facts checked against the sources current at publication.
