Britain’s Conservative government wants every teacher to use artificial intelligence in order to “reduce workloads.”
Officials have already made it clear they believe AI has a “huge potential” to “transform” education. Thousands of teachers are already reported to have signed up to use technological tools for creating lesson plans. But ministers are pushing this to go much further.
Announcing a £2 million (€2.3 million) investment into Oak National Academy, an independent body partnered with Google and other tech firms, the Department for Education said on Monday that “every teacher in England is set to benefit from new resources powered by Artificial Intelligence” (emphasis added). It added that this investment marks “the first step towards providing every teacher with a personalised AI lesson-planning assistant.”
Commenting on the development, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is comfortable with the idea of robots teaching children, said:
AI has extraordinary potential to reform our education system for the better, with considerable value for both teachers and students. Oak National Academy’s work to harness AI to free up the workload for teachers is a perfect example of the revolutionary benefits this technology can bring. This investment will play a defining role in giving our children and the next generation of students a better education and a brighter future.
Some representatives of the National Education Union have signalled that they are “sceptical” about the suggestion this will be “good for teaching and learning.” The government is this month set to release the results of a consultation on AI in teaching, though it appears to have already made up its mind.
