How AI tools can reduce workload

Better data is needed to make AI technologies work properly for the education sector. A new project by the Department for Education will create a data store of education-relevant documents to train AI tools, with the aim of creating better resources for the teaching profession.

The UK government has announced a new project that will enhance artificial intelligence’s (AI) ability to assist teachers in marking work and planning lessons.

The project will pool government documents, including curriculum guidance, lesson plans and anonymised pupil assessments, which will then be used by AI companies to train their tools so they generate accurate lesson plans and workbooks.

The information will be targeted at technology companies specialising in education to build tools which will help teachers mark work, create teaching materials for use in the classroom and assist with routine school admin.

To encourage AI companies to make use of the datastore, a share of £1 million will be awarded to those who bring forward the best ideas to put the data into practice to reduce teacher workload. Each winner will build an AI tool to help teachers specifically with feedback and marking by March 2025.

Department for Education (DfE) tests show that providing generative AI models with this kind of data can increase accuracy to 92 per cent, up from 67 per cent when no targeted data was provided to a large language model.

Science secretary Peter Kyle said: “We know teachers work tirelessly to go above and beyond for their students. By making AI work for them, this project aims to ease admin burdens and help them deliver creative and inspiring lessons every day, while reducing time pressures they face.”

The project includes a partnership with the Open University which is sharing learning resources to be drawn on as part of the project.

Professor Ian Pickup from The Open University, said: “By making content accessible to new educational technology tools, we foresee a future where learning materials can be best matched to personal needs, where learning tasks can be pitched at the right level for student success, and where students can progress at a pace that is right for them.”

How many teachers already use AI?

Almost half of teachers are already using AI to help with their work, according to a survey from TeacherTapp, but current AI tools are not specifically trained on the documents setting out how teaching should work in England.

Chris Goodall, a teacher and head of digital education in the Bourne Education Trust, first started using AI when he was teaching business in November 2022. Chris experimented with using ChatGPT to develop a range of lesson activities, such as personalised case studies, to complement his lessons.

Now, Chris supports teachers across over 26 primary, secondary and specialist schools in the Trust to enhance their lessons and cut down the time they need to spend on admin by using AI.  

With his support, teachers have used generative AI to evaluate their curriculum materials, create case studies and other activities to create engaging lessons. Teachers at Auriol Junior School even illustrated a teacher-written guide encouraging students to read more books with AI-generated text, cartoon creatures and music, encouraging students to become a “literacy monster” and making the programme more engaging.

Chris Goodall said: “AI has been a hugely powerful tool for me and my colleagues at the Bourne Education Trust. It allows us to create engaging, personalised learning experiences for our students while also significantly reducing the time taken to create them. Personally, I’ve used AI to quickly generate scaffolded activities, adapt materials for students with special educational needs, and create more engaging lessons that are accessible to all. The time saved allows school staff to focus on what matters most, interacting with students and providing individualised feedback and support.”

Speaking about the DfE project, Chris Goodall added: “The content store will take AI to the next level by offering easy access to high quality evidence based and legally compliant education materials. Developed with input from educators it supports effective teaching practices and fosters collaboration and innovation.

“This initiative demonstrates how AI, when implemented responsibly and ethically, can support and empower teachers to create more dynamic, personalised learning experiences for students.”

Parental views of AI in the classroom

New research by the DfE and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) shows parents want teachers to use generative AI to enable them to have more time helping children in the classroom with face-to-face teaching. The research was based on a mix of face-to-face and online sessions with 108 parents and pupils across three locations in England.

The sessions found that while awareness of AI as a “hot topic” was high among both parents and pupils, understanding did not run deep. As a result, views on the use of AI in education were initially sceptical, though there was an openness to learning more.

Both parents and pupils could see that there were clear opportunities for the use of AI in education to support teachers, but there was some hesitation around pupils engaging with AI tools directly.

By the end of the sessions, parents and pupils could understand the advantages of using pupil work and data to optimise AI tools. They were more comfortable with this when data was anonymised or pseudonymised and they identified a set of clear rules for acceptable data sharing.

Opinions on the use of AI tools in education are not yet fixed: parents’ and pupils’ views of and trust in AI tools fluctuated throughout the sessions, as they reacted to new information and diverging opinions.

What next?

At the Global Education Innovation Summit (GEIS) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, which focused on the “classroom revolution led by teachers with AI”, it was announced that a Global Education and Innovation Alliance will be launched, of which the UK will be of the founding members.

What’s more, the DfE is publishing a safety framework on AI products for education, due later this year. Minister for Early Education Stephen Morgan will meet education technology companies before setting out clear expectations for the safety of AI products for education.

The DfE project to create a data store of education material is the first of many. Science Secretary Peter Kyle concluded: “This is the first of many projects that will transform how we see and use public sector data. We will put the information we hold to work, using it in a safe and responsible way to reduce waiting lists, cut backlogs and improve outcomes for citizens across the country.”

Minister for early education Stephen Morgan added: “This project marks a huge step forward for AI in the classroom. This investment will allow us to safely harness the power of tech to make it work for our hard-working teachers, easing the pressures and workload burdens we know are facing the profession and freeing up time, allowing them to focus on face-to-face teaching.”