A Big Step Forward for AI in the Classroom

The bold project was announced by UK Early Childhood Education Minister Stephen Morgan at the Global Education Innovation Summit (GEIS) held on August 28 in Seoul, South Korea.

The project is backed by a £4 million investment from the UK government, of which £3 million will be used to build a “document bank” of curriculum guides, lesson plans and student assessments. AI models will then be given special access to this document bank to create accurate, high-quality content, such as lesson plans and creative workbooks that can be used reliably in schools, he said.

The remaining board will be used to host a competition for technology developers to find the best ideas for building and using data banks. The deadline for submissions is September 9. The winning unit will be responsible for building an AI tool to support teachers in grading and lesson planning by March 2025.

A survey by TeacherTapp, an app for teachers in the UK, found that nearly half of teachers surveyed have used AI in some way in their work. However, current AI tools are not trained on teaching materials designed or approved for use in schools.

Education Secretary Stephen Morgan said the move was a “huge step forward for AI in the classroom”. “This world-leading initiative will mark the first time the UK government has created a repository of high-quality educational materials optimised for AI product development, accelerating the production of safe, legally compliant tools tailored to the needs of teachers,” Mr Morgan said.

Reduce pressure on teachers

The project comes after recent research found parents want teachers to use AI to help with other tasks so teachers can spend more time helping children in the classroom with face-to-face teaching.

“We know teachers are juggling multiple tasks to support their students,” said Science Minister Peter Kyle. “By using AI, this project aims to reduce the administrative burden on teachers, giving them more time to focus on creating creative and inspiring lessons every day, as well as giving them more time to rest and recharge.”

This is the first of a number of UK Government projects to increase the use of technology and AI in the storage and use of public sector data. Information sources will be integrated into banks and used safely and responsibly to improve public services, helping to reduce the burden on face-to-face services.

Education Secretary Stephen Morgan said: “We are determined to break down barriers to ensure every child can get the best possible education, and that includes access to the best technological innovations. Artificial intelligence, when kept safe and trustworthy, offers an exciting opportunity to support school leaders and teachers.

Promote content creation

Chris Goodall, a teacher and Head of Digital Education at Bourne Education Trust, first started using AI in November 2022. He experimented with using ChatGPT to develop lessons, such as personalised case studies, to supplement his lectures.

Chris now supports teachers in over 26 primary, secondary and specialist schools within the Bourne Education Trust to use AI to improve teaching quality and reduce time spent on administration.

With his help, teachers have used generative AI to evaluate their teaching materials, create case studies and other activities to create engaging lessons. For example, teachers at Auriol Elementary School designed a lesson that encouraged students to read more books using text and AI-generated animations with fun characters and catchy music, encouraging students to become “literacy monsters,” making the lesson much more engaging.

“AI has been an incredibly powerful tool for me and my colleagues at Bourne Education Trust. It allows us to create more engaging learning experiences, tailoring materials for students with special educational needs. The time saved allows school staff to focus on what matters most, engaging with students and providing personalised feedback and support.”

“The data bank that the Ministry of Education is building will help take AI adoption to the next level by providing AI with easy access to high-quality educational materials,” noted Chris Goodall.

“The AI ​​technologies that TeachMateAI is currently developing are already saving teachers over 10 hours of work per week, but we are ambitious about what more we can do to support teachers and schools,” said Ian Cunningham, CTO of TeachMate, a developer of AI tools to support teachers. “The Education Resource Bank will allow us and other developers to create highly accurate tools for the field in a much more efficient way, reducing costs and time to market for new products.”

AI supports, not replaces teachers

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said AI could help ease the “overwhelming” burden teachers face if they could use it without worrying about accuracy and reliability. A research report released by the Department for Education on August 28 found that using targeted data to train an AI model could increase its accuracy from 67% to 92%.

Concerns about the accuracy of AI assisting teachers with things like grading or lesson planning have also been raised, with the Department of Education also committing to releasing a safety framework for AI products for education, expected later this year. Secretary Morgan will meet with education technology companies before outlining safety expectations for AI products for the sector.

“However, it is important to recognize that AI is a tool, not something that can replace human expertise and student interaction that only our highly qualified and professional educational team can provide,” Di’Iasio noted.

A study on attitudes towards AI in education released by the Government on August 28 showed that parents generally support teachers’ use of AI in some activities, but still expressed concerns about over-reliance on this technology, such as the loss of important social and technical skills, shortened communication time between people, leading to undesirable consequences.

“The more pressing issue is that we are struggling to recruit and retain teachers because the previous Conservative government cut pay and working conditions over the past decade and a half. This is an issue that needs urgent attention,” Mr Di’Iasio stressed.