Over the last few years AI has become increasingly prominent in school settings and has us wondering if one day teachers will be replaced fully by AI.
So, what is AI currently doing in schools?
According to Forbes magazine “AI algorithms are already used to adapt math and reading lessons in real-time to ensure that every student receives an appropriate level of support and challenge.”
They are also currently being used in classrooms for things like educational games, adaptive learning platforms, chatbots and intelligent tutoring systems to provide more personalised support for students.
According to the National Literacy Trust, when teachers were asked if they had used generative AI the percentage increased from 31.0% in 2023 to 47.7% in 2024.
It has been shown that the increased amount of AI being used could eventually diminish a large part of human interaction in the educational setting. This could result in a loss of social skills and impersonal development for young people in future generations.
Miss Hunterspence, a teacher of English at Gumley House Convent School said, “I think it could be useful in some aspects of the job, but I would feel sad if students couldn’t have face to face communication with someone. AI would not be able to pick up the general mental health of the students.”
An article in the online magazine Edweek titled “New Data Reveals how many students are using AI to cheat,’ explains the problems associated with cheating using AI. Edweek writes that AI will dramatically influence how children develop their sense of self and interact with one another, their teachers, their families, and the wider world.
The effects of lockdown now on children are well documented, with increased mental health issues and a lack of confidence in social settings. after doing all their schoolwork online and not having the face-to-face interactions they would get in school. Which makes us worry what effect less human contact in schools will have on student’s wellbeing.
When asked if she thinks AI will ever fully replace teachers in the future Miss Ellaway, head of computer science at Gumley House Convent school, said “Absolutely not. We always need the human angle. The information that AI will use may not be accurate, so human checking is absolutely necessary.”
Dr Monica Esslin-Peard, a music teacher at Gumley House Convent School said, “AI can be a really powerful tool if it is used in the right way and if the use of AI is acknowledged.”
It has been shown that the increasing reliance on AI in education can lead to technology over dependence.
Studies from the National Literacy Trust say that the percentage of 13–18-year-olds who said they had used generative AI for schoolwork has increased from 37.1% in 2023 to 77.1% in 2024.
When asked why they use AI for schoolwork they said:
“Can be useful because sometimes questions can be hard to understand, and we need support that we can’t necessarily get from teachers”
“It can be good for revising maths”
“It can help you understand questions better”
“I used it for a homework question, it gave me pressure to have my answers be perfect every time which would make end up using AI more for my homework”
“Hard to live up to expectations set by other students who use AI”
However, according to the National Literacy Trust 82% of teachers agreed that students should be taught how to engage critically with AI tools and 73% said they also need more training, support, and resources to use generative AI.
Studies suggest that more training and support could allow both teachers and students to get the skills they need to benefit from effective, critical, and creative interactions with generative AI.
