Artificial Intelligence (AI) stays here. From helping police identify offenders to improving cancer screening in the NHS, it has already had a major impact on the public sector as a whole.
That's why we are bringing the AI revolution to our classrooms. It is used to modernize the education system, assist teachers and deliver them to children and learners.
Here's what you need to know about how AI can transform education.
Are teachers allowed to use AI?
Yes, teachers can use AI to help them plan lessons, create resources, mark work, provide feedback, handle administrative tasks, and more. But they need to use their professional judgment and make sure everything AI generates is accurate and appropriate. Ultimate responsibility always rests on them and their school or university.
Schools and universities can set their own rules for AI use as long as they comply with legal requirements for data protection, child safety and intellectual property.
For more information about AI, which generates education, see our policy paper.
How can AI help teachers?
From planning your draft curriculum to creating high-quality educational resources, AI can focus on doing your best, including teaching and supporting students, as teachers may reduce the time they spend doing their admin tasks.
Just as AI can help teachers with their classroom life, there are a huge number of possibilities that AI is unexplored. That's why we're funding the development of new AI tools for education. These tools truly expand the capabilities AI can do, from assessing hand-drawn work to providing feedback on hand-drawn geographic maps, to recognizing soldering errors on circuit boards created by engineering students.
Previously, it was spent on burdensome markings and managers, allowing teachers to focus on in-person education.
Can teachers be replaced by AI?
It's definitely not.
Teachers are irreplaceable, and AI is not a substitute for teachers' professional judgments or personal relationships with students.
We are developing AI tools specifically to support teachers, not to replace the unique role they play in education. These tools are designed to handle repetitive tasks that currently displace teachers' energy from face-to-face classroom interactions.
A good teacher is key to raising the standard of education. Using AI to reduce workloads can also help address recruitment and retention challenges in education. This helps restore education as an attractive profession. These tools can make a difference in teachers' daily lives and help them focus on what is important, education.
Are students allowed to use AI?
It is up to the school and university to decide whether students can use AI, but appropriate safeguards must be in place. This means using tools with safety and filtering capabilities to ensure that students stick to age restrictions. Many AI tools are over 18 years old. Schools and universities need to consider how AI will affect learning and whether homework policies need to be updated.
Each school or university has the opportunity to choose how and when AI is used. Some people allow it in a particular subject or group of years, while others decide it is just for the teachers. Whatever they choose, keeping students safe should always be the first to come.
How can AI help students?
Evidence shows that high quality, personalized feedback builds achievements and AI tools can help with this. This means getting more of what makes the biggest difference in their learning – high quality in-person education and personalized feedback.
AI tools can speed up markings and allow teachers to better understand each student's progress. This allows for the education to be tailored to what each learner needs. This does not replace the important relationship between students and teachers. Reclaiming valuable time for teachers can make all the difference in how well students learn.
What do you do to develop AI in education?
From investing in AI tools to increasing teachers and leaders, to gather evidence on how teachers and students use AI, we have already explored ways to use AI in education.
These are the first steps, but already there:
- Launched AI tools for educational competition and content stores
In August 2024, we announced two exciting initiatives to stimulate the education technology sector and help build tools to support teacher workloads.
The content store is a £3 million data library funded by the science and technology sector and is used to provide large-scale language AI models that provide high-quality educational information such as curriculum and mark schemes. This means that AI products are even more effective in producing resources to support teachers.
It also announced the AI tools for education: £1 million through Innovate UK's Innovation Program Agreement. It was awarded to 16 innovators and used the information from the content store to build AI tools that can help teacher workloads across different stages.
It also announced an additional £1 million contract to fund innovation to accelerate the development of AI tools for teachers. This brings the groundbreaking AI tools one step closer to being ready for everyday use in schools.
- Invested up to £2 million in Oak National Academy's AI tools
This boost from Oak National Academy, a provider of free and optional high quality digital curriculum resources, helped develop and improve Oak's AI tools. Oak National Academy launched AILA, a lesson assistant powered by AI, to help teachers reduce their workload. Oak worked with expert AI developers, teachers and other education specialists to create tools that teachers saved 3-4 hours a week with lesson plans.
- Developed a new package of training and guidance for teachers and leaders
We have created simple training and resources for schools and universities to ensure teachers and school leaders can use AI safely with confidence to improve their students' classroom experiences.
For teachers, we develop a simple online guide that explains the basics of AI and provides practical tips for using AI safely with young people. These resources show teachers how to reduce administrative tasks using AI tools, giving them more time to focus on providing inspirational lessons and reducing document time.
For leaders, we provide comprehensive support for managing AI throughout your settings. This guidance is a real-life example of how other schools and universities have implemented AI, and will help you effectively integrate AI into your digital strategy. It also includes research insights into the educational benefits of using AI in schools and universities.
This task directly addresses what schools and universities have been asking for – a practical help to safely use AI while freeing up valuable educational time.
Do you provide students with access to the right skills?
It has invested £45 million to strengthen digital connectivity at schools across the country, targeting the digital disparity in the coming year. The funding includes £25 million for wireless network improvements and £20 million for fiber upgrades, ensuring reliable internet access is standard in all schools.
We believe that every child deserves equal access to digital learning opportunities. This investment will help ensure students are at a disadvantage due to lack of technology access, but it also helps teachers leverage advances in educational technology in the classroom. In addition to this immediate investment, we have launched consultations on long-term strategies to narrow down digital disparities. It focuses in particular on establishing new digital and technology standards for schools and universities across the country.
