Secondary school students' learning persistence in human‐AI hybrid learning: The supplementary role of parental mediation

To explore the role of parents in secondary school students' persistence in human‐AI hybrid learning, this mixed‐method study proposes a model that integrates active and restrictive parental mediation into an established baseline model from prior research. Using structural equation modelling to analyse data from 302 students, the proposed model accounted for 66.8% of the variance in continuance intention and 22.9% in continuous learning behaviour. Interestingly, while restrictive mediation was found to be positively correlated with students' continuous learning behaviour, active mediation did not show a significant association with the behaviour. This unexpected finding prompted further investigation through in‐depth interviews with 10 students. Thematic analysis revealed that many parents focused on managing online entertainment behaviour. Restrictive mediation, usually implemented through mandatory measures, was found to be more effective in shifting students' attention from entertainment to academic activities. However, many parents lacked sufficient AI literacy and did not receive adequate support from schools and teachers. This deficiency hampered their ability to proactively help their children use AI technologies for learning, thereby limiting the effectiveness of active mediation in promoting sustained educational engagement. The results provide insights for parents, technology companies and educators to optimise human‐AI hybrid learning for secondary school students. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic By integrating human (including students, teachers, schools and parents) with machine intelligence, human‐AI hybrid learning holds significant potential to enhance secondary education. Secondary school students often struggle to persist in learning in human‐AI hybrid learning environments. Few studies have explored the role of parental mediation on secondary school students' learning persistence in human‐AI hybrid learning. What this paper adds Active mediation plays a significant role in fostering students' digital learning habit. However, no significant relationship is found between active mediation and continuous learning behaviour in human‐AI hybrid learning. Although restrictive mediation can positively influence continuous learning behaviour, it might negatively affect the development of students' digital learning habit. Many parents often neglect to provide active mediation that encourages students' use of technology for learning purposes. Implications for practice and/or policy Secondary schools and teachers should thoughtfully engage parents in the design of human‐AI hybrid learning environments and offer more comprehensive guidance on effective parental mediation. In the AI era, parents are advised to apply more active mediation to foster children's habit of learning with technology. Parents could collaboratively set reasonable guidelines with their children before implementing restrictive mediation in human‐AI hybrid learning settings. To enhance students' learning experiences with AI tools, technology companies should prioritise gathering learner feedback to continuously update and improve the educational features of their technologies.