Made in Europe: AI company aiming to solve teacher shortage crisis

An artificial intelligence (AI) company called 21st Century Digital Teaching (21C) is working to solve chronic teacher shortages in the UK and across Europe by revolutionizing the way students learn maths and other core subjects. We are taking a big step forward.

To achieve this, 21C has created a digital education app and learning platform for schools. By digitizing teachers and converting them into avatars on the app, this will significantly reduce the number of teachers needed and allow classes to proceed even when there is a shortage.

The founders said it also offers new ways to do homework because it's more interactive and allows teachers to more easily track student progress through the platform's smart analytics tools.

Using AI to solve the teacher shortage

It comes as schools across the continent struggle to fill positions. The 2024 Tes Schools Wellbeing report revealed that 74% of school staff surveyed had considered quitting teaching altogether in the past year.

The survey also found that 61% of UK teachers do not feel their workload is manageable.

Meanwhile, 47% of school staff highlighted that they lacked the necessary facilities and resources to carry out their duties.

Alan Judd, the company's chairman and CEO, said in an interview with Euronews: “There is a shortage of teachers. There is a shortage of real teachers. “It's expanding very rapidly and there are fewer experienced math teachers because more people are retiring.” .

“They're moving around, they're going to different places, so one-on-one instruction is really behind the 21st century.”

Leverage technology to improve engagement

21C's AI platform transforms lessons from real math teachers into short, easy-to-understand bite-sized formats of 4-5 minutes each. The founders say this allows students with short attention spans to continue learning more efficiently.

Martin Hozowski, the company's chief operating officer, told Euronews: “The important thing is that obviously teenagers' attention spans are getting really short. So we want to make our lessons as short as possible, which means lessons from 20 to 40 minutes. “Instead of “for a long time,'' we've condensed it into a four- to five-minute format to make sure it resonates with teens.

“And it was quite a challenge to really compress these lessons into a short format that teens could understand and wouldn't get bored of,” he added.

It also ensures that students' individual progress is monitored and that appropriate personalized feedback is provided to each learner.

As such, the platform can be easily integrated into existing teacher learning plans, allowing teachers to design more efficient lessons as well as reducing time for grading and feedback, he said. It also gives teachers the most detailed insight possible into student performance, which helps them decide how to best support each student in their learning journey.

Hojowski further added that 21C specializes in mimicking one-on-one tutoring, offering a solution that is more cost-effective and more attractive than face-to-face tutoring. I explained that it would be a great help in helping my students.

He noted that this will also particularly help economically disadvantaged students, who do not necessarily have access to in-person tutoring options.

The platform's technology has already been developed and is currently being tested in leading schools across the UK.

Startup challenges in Europe

Mr Judd said pre-revenue funding remained the biggest hurdle in some of the challenges facing his company and many other UK and European startups.

“We have the skill set, we have the talent, we know the market, and I think you look at a lot of institutions, and it’s the same question every time: How many licenses have you sold? People want proof of concept, but also the value proposition of having completed the technology at a price that everyone can buy, including teachers and venture capitalists.

“But it still takes a little bit of a push on them, and sometimes they succeed. Most of our money comes from high-net-worth investors who are unbiased and make decisions.”

Other challenges that 21st century digital education had to overcome included developing unique chatbots and translators to best translate content from teachers. Educational avatars also had to be developed in the most engaging and authentic way, including getting the right tone and language to help maximize connection with students.

Expanding market selection

Due to the current challenging investment and regulatory environment in Europe, several UK and European companies, whether new or established, are considering relocating to the US.

This is primarily due to deepening capital and liquidity pools, and a wider range of investors and opportunities, but this trend may also be related to differences in risk attitudes across the pond.

In this regard, Judd said the company is also planning to enter the US market, as US venture capitalists are very open to pre-revenue ventures.

“We're probably going to enter the U.S. market in 2025. It will take us about six to nine months to prepare a curriculum based on the platform that we have. This platform is versatile and will actually It is also compatible with other languages ​​and other systems.”

21st Century Digital Education is currently being tested in schools and markets in the UK, but the company has plans to expand to European markets such as Spain, Germany and Belgium.

This could be further facilitated by the ease with which content can be translated through the use of avatars, for example using avatars of Spanish-speaking teachers for the Spanish market.