An AI Literacy Framework

Explore details from Empowering Learners for the Age of AI: An AI Literacy Framework for Primary and Secondary Education, a draft document from the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that provides AI guidance for educators.

Teaching in a Tech-Empowered Classroom
Grades K-12 9 min Resource by:
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The European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with support from Code.org and other leading international experts, recently released a document providing AI guidance for educators, Empowering Learners for the Age of AI: An AI Literacy Framework for Primary and Secondary Education. While still in draft form, this document has the potential of guiding schools and educators in preparing students for an AI-infused world.

A Definition and Mission

The document begins with a definition of AI literacy that brings together elements of definitions from other well-respected worldwide organizations. The definition reads, “AI literacy represents the technical knowledge, durable skills, and future-ready attitudes required to thrive in a world influenced by AI. It enables learners to engage, create with, manage, and design AI, while critically evaluating its benefits, risks, and ethical implications.”

The authors also add that the teaching of AI literacy is a “shared responsibility across the education ecosystem, rather than the duty of any individual educator.” They also encourage educators “to embed AI literacy when and where it aligns with their subject and context.” The considerations are not intended to be taught in a standalone class; rather, it’s the responsibility of all K–12 educators to play a part in AI literacy training.

Three Themes

Three key themes have emerged from this process:

  • How AI and Machine Learning Work: This supports the premise that “Understanding AI helps learners dispel misconceptions about the technology and enables a more informed evaluation of its implications.”
  • Human Skills to Emphasize for Successful Collaboration with AI Tools: For this theme, “The AI Lit Framework emphasizes several skills and attitudes that support learners’ successful collaboration with AI.” This includes such durable skills as metacognition, critical thinking, communication, questioning, perspective-taking, and computational thinking skills, like abstraction, decomposition, and problem formulation.
  • AI’s Effects on Individuals, Society, and the Environment: For this theme, “Learners must think critically about how AI already affects them and how it will continue to shape their futures.” It points out that “Values, context, and accountability are inseparable from learning with and about AI.”

The Framework

The AI Literacy Framework has been created by pulling together work from leading international initiatives, including the following.

The framework is broken down into four domains of AI literacy:

  • Engaging with AI: This involves “using AI as a tool to access new content, information, or recommendations. These situations require learners to first recognize AI’s presence, then evaluate the accuracy and relevance of AI outputs. Learners must develop a fundamental understanding of AI’s technical foundations in order to critically analyze its capabilities and limitations.”
  • Creating with AI: This domain “consists of collaborating with an AI system in a creative or problem-solving process. It involves guiding and refining AI output through prompts and feedback, while ensuring the content remains fair and appropriate. It also involves ethical considerations related to content ownership, attribution, and the responsible use of existing materials.”
  • Managing AI: This “requires intentionally choosing how AI can support and enhance human work. This includes assigning structured tasks to AI, such as organizing information, so humans can focus on areas requiring creativity, empathy, and judgment. AI systems can simulate a variety of roles, acting as an analyst, debate partner, or career guide. Learners who manage AI’s actions learn to delegate tasks thoughtfully, guide AI outputs with clear instructions, and assess whether AI’s role aligns with their goals and values. This domain helps learners build agency, ensuring that AI works for them and that its use remains ethical and human-centered.”
  • Designing AI: This “empowers learners to understand how AI works and connect it to its social and ethical impacts by shaping how AI systems function. Through hands-on exploration in an education context, students examine how data, design choices, and model behavior influence the fairness, usefulness, and impact of AI systems. The goal is not to develop commercial products or put them into service, but to build the confidence and capacity to shape AI for human good by understanding the principles underpinning the design of AI from an early age.”

This graphic outlines four areas of the framework: Engaging with AI, Creating with AI, Managing AI, and Designing AI.

Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes

After providing initial context, the document delves into applicable knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students will need in an AI-powered world. Each of the areas below is developed further in the guide, with descriptions of the competency, a general summary, and a brief breakdown of what this competency means in practice:

  • Knowledge:
    • The Nature of AI
    • AI Reflects Human Choices and Perspectives
    • AI Reshapes Work and Human Roles
    • AI’s Capabilities and Limitations
    • AI’s Role in Society
  • Skills:
    • Critical Thinking
    • Creativity
    • Computational Thinking
    • Self and Social Awareness
    • Collaboration
    • Communication
    • Problem Solving
  • Attitudes:
    • Responsible
    • Curious
    • Innovative
    • Adaptable
    • Empathetic

Competences

The main section of the document covers competences. These details make up about half of the framework document. It is organized around the four key areas of AI literacy: engaging with, creating with, managing, and designing AI.

As these competencies are broken down, related knowledge, skills, and attitudes are called out. Specific scenarios, which are intended to provide concrete examples of how these considerations might be integrated into a school setting, are also provided for both primary and secondary education.

This illustration shows a competence and how it is broken down into skills, attitudes, and areas of implementation in school.

After reviewing the document, you are invited to offer feedback using an online survey that has been prepared. You may submit feedback at teachai.org/ailiteracy/review. A final draft of the document is scheduled for release in 2026.

Quotes and images have been excerpted and included from Empowering Learners for the Age of AI: An AI Literacy Framework for Primary and Secondary Education, a joint initiative of the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (© 2025 OECD), according to Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0), with no changes made.

AVID Connections

This resource connects with the following components of the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework:

  • Instruction
  • Systems
  • Leadership
  • Rigorous Academic Preparedness
  • Opportunity Knowledge
  • Student Agency
  • Insist on Rigor
  • Break Down Barriers
  • Align the Work
  • Advocate for Students
  • Collective Educator Agency

Extend Your Learning

Topic Collections

This course is part of the following collections:

AI in the K-12 Classroom

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