Being referred to as the ‘modern space race’, the US and China have been competing for the top spot when it comes to being the global leader on Artificial Intelligence (AI). China was said to have ‘stunned’ Silicon Valley with the launch of ChatGPT rival DeepSeek in January 2025, and now the next phase of the race appears to be focused on the education sector and efforts to ensure that teachers and students have the appropriate level of AI literacy to support each country’s respective strategies for AI. 

China has announced that it is making it mandatory for children in primary and secondary schools in the country’s capital Beijing to take at least eight hours of AI classes a year from September 1, 2025 through a government-led initiative. Following this announcement, calls were made for the US to dramatically strengthen and expand their approach to AI education, to which the response has been for the US to mandate nationwide training on AI in schools for teachers and students. 

Given the purpose of the education sector to prepare the next generation of AI developers, leaders and regulators, it is clear that both countries recognise the importance of this critical time in making sure that students receive education on AI relevant to their age and that schools and teachers are empowered with the skills and knowledge to provide it. In this article, we take a closer look at how each country is approaching AI literacy in education, what other countries globally are doing and what schools need to consider. 

China 

To try and cement its position as a leader in the development of Artificial Intelligence, China has made it mandatory for children in primary and secondary schools to take at least eight hours of AI classes a year from September 1, 2025 in Beijing. The aim is to cultivate a technically inclined generation for the future, supporting China in becoming an AI superpower globally. The guidance stresses the need to develop and facilitate sharing of high-quality AI resources and the importance of developing an AI-savvy teaching workforce through teacher training and recruitment focused on AI capabilities, highlighting the importance of teachers and schools being able to satisfy student’s academic, personal and social needs when it comes to AI.

Schools in Beijing will have the option to integrate AI subjects within current school courses or to incorporate special AI courses into the curriculum. For elementary students the focus will be learning through interactive sessions, to introduce them to fundamental AI ideas, with middle school students exploring real-world applications and high school students learning more sophisticated areas with a focus on AI innovation and emerging technologies. Schools are also encouraged to introduce AI teaching modules in IT and Science, as well as including it in extracurricular activities. China’s Minister for Education has also announced that China will be releasing a white paper on AI education in 2025, which will include strategic policies and targets for countrywide implementation. By integrating AI education at a young age, China is actively preparing its population for a future powered by AI, highlighting the importance of AI literacy in this.

US 

Responding to China’s comprehensive approach to a national curriculum for AI, and in order to preserve its competitive edge in the AI arena, on April 23rd 2025, Executive Order ‘Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth’ was issued by the US Whitehouse, making AI education a core national initiative. 

The Executive Order has the aim of boosting AI education for American youth through a number of initiatives, including by: 

• Creating a White House national task force on AI education;
• Launching a Presidential AI Challenge which will encourage and highlight student and educator achievements in AI; 
• Expanding teacher training on AI; and 
• Encouraging public-private partnerships to develop AI resources for us in education. 

The goal of the Executive Order is to strengthen AI education for American students to maintain and strengthen U.S. leadership in AI innovation and prepare a future AI-skilled workforce. Previously, AI education had been expanding through state-led efforts rather than a unified national strategy. California was the first US state to mandate AI literacy, requiring schools to incorporate AI into math, science and history curricula by 2025. New Jersey has also allocated millions for AI teacher training, while Utah has also invested in training and professional development on AI for educators.

Globally

China and the US are not the only countries with a focus on AI literacy for teachers and students. 

In the European Union it is already a legal requirement for schools using AI systems to ensure a sufficient level of AI literacy among their staff and other persons dealing with the operation and use of AI systems on their behalf,

In Singapore, their Smart Nation strategy has the aim of positioning the country as a world leader in AI by 2030, with one goal being to help teachers to customise and improve education for every student using AI, particularly those with special needs. It also focuses on scaling AI literacy courses to 100,000 adult Singaporeans and school-going children by 2025, highlighting that students should learn basic foundational concepts to spark their interest in AI at an early age. In order to support a national initiative to build AI literacy among students and teachers to ensure that they understand the risks and benefits of the technology, by 2026 training on AI in education will be offered for teachers at all levels, including those in training. 

South Korea is also investing heavily in preparing students and teachers for AI. In 2025, the country aims to have AI coursework in its national curriculum across all grade levels, starting with high school and the Korean Ministry of Education’s Keris unit is designing and piloting extensive teacher development around AI and other technologies. 

In the UAE, AI will also be introduced as a subject to be taught at schools across all levels of government education, from kindergarten through to 12th grade, starting from the upcoming academic year. 

It is clear that countries around the world see the value of investing in AI education for staff and students, to prepare them for the future.

So what does this mean for schools?

If your school is located in a country that has mandated training and education on AI, you need to look at what this means for your school and your curriculum. Some governments are being more prescriptive in what AI literacy should look like and are providing resources for this, whilst others are leaving it open to schools to decide how they should train their teachers and students on AI and where they should obtain these resources from. 

Even where AI Literacy is not a legal requirement that your school is subject to, it is clear this is a direction that most countries are headed, seeing a teaching workforce that is proficient in AI and prepared to guide and educate their students through this as a new norm in the education system. Things that schools need to consider when it comes to AI literacy are: 

• What requirements are we under and how much flexibility do we have? 
• Do our teachers and staff have the level of AI literacy they need to support our students in using AI in an ethical, safe and compliant way? If not, how do we ensure this?
• How will we incorporate AI education into our curriculum? Should this be through stand alone lessons or should we integrate AI throughout the general curriculum?  
• What tools and resources are available to us in helping us to create the level of AI literacy our staff and students need? Are these available to us via third parties, government initiatives or are these something we will need to create in-house and do we have the time for this?
• What are other schools doing and how competitive do we want to be about our offering when it comes to AI in education?

How can 9ine help?

At 9ine we believe in being intentional about supporting all teachers and staff with integrating AI into the curriculum and navigating the challenges that it presents to schools, through both standardised AI literacy training but also activities that prompt creativity and discussion. 

Our 9ine Academy LMS is an on-demand training and certification platform which enables schools to enrol individual staff members or entire groups in comprehensive training courses, modules, and assessments, featuring in-built quizzes for knowledge checks. Our AI Pathway is your school's learning partner for AI ethics and governance. With over 20 differentiated course levels you can enrol all staff in an Introductory course to AI, then for those staff with a greater responsibility, enrol them in Intermediate and Advanced courses. There’s also specialist courses for AI in Safeguarding, Child Protection and Technology. Schools can also subscribe to learning pathways in Privacy, Cyber, Tech Operations and Risk Management. Alternatively, schools can purchase courses on a per person and a per course basis. We are currently offering free trials for up to three members of a school’s leadership team, so contact us if you would like to take advantage of this, or have any questions on Academy LMS.  

For both staff and students, we have also created Turing Trials. This is our free to download card game, designed to help schools explore AI in education in an engaging, interactive way. It supports discussions on AI’s impact in education, including on data privacy and child safeguarding. It is perfect for school administrators, educators, and technical staff and can be used in workshops to increase AI literacy across the whole school. It enables colleagues to collaborate, navigate real-life AI scenarios and make strategic decisions which affect students, staff and school operations. Turing Trials is not just great for staff at schools though, it can be used with students to have conversations with them about the opportunities and risks of AI, exploring what their thoughts and feelings are about how it is, and should be, used in the school. You can download it for free here.

Once you have taken the training in Academy LMS or played Turing Trials with your staff and students, you might realise that there is more that your school needs to do to navigate the risks and challenges which AI creates. Other products and services that 9ine offer, which can help schools in meeting their Artificial Intelligence compliance requirements include: 

• Application Library: A solution that enables all staff to access a central searchable library of all EdTech in the school. The library contains all information staff need to know about the AI in use (if there is), privacy risks, safeguarding risks and cyber risks. With easy to add ‘How to’ and ‘Help’ guides, Application Library becomes a single, central digital resource. Through implementing Application Library your school will identify duplication in EdTech, reduce contract subscription costs and have a workflow for the request of new EdTech for staff to follow.
• Vendor Management: Removes the pain, and time, from evaluating and vetting third party vendor contracts, privacy notices, information security policies and other compliance documents. Vendor Management provides a thorough, ‘traffic light’ based approach to inform you of vendor privacy, cyber, AI, and safeguarding risks. Vendor Management supports you to demonstrate to parents, staff and regulators how you effectively evaluate and manage technology you choose to deploy.

9ine company overview

9ine equips schools to stay safe, secure and compliant. We give schools access to all the expertise they need to meet their technology, cyber, data privacy, governance, risk & compliance needs - in one simple to use platform. For additional information, please visit www.9ine.com or follow us on LinkedIn @9ine.