A new trial, announced by the Education Endowment Foundation
(EEF) today, will explore whether supporting teachers to use
ChatGPT – a generative AI tool - for lesson planning can reduce
their overall working hours.
Secondary schools can now sign up to take part in the trial,
which is one of the first ever research projects
to look at whether ChatGPT can reduce teacher workload, which
research shows has a
negative impact on staff retention rates in schools.
The trial will find out whether an accessible online guide,
designed by Bain & Company’s Social Impact practice and
The Hg Foundation, can help teachers make best use of ChatGPT for
efficient lesson planning. The toolkit provides technical support
to use generative AI to:
· generate activity
ideas;
· tailor existing lesson
materials to specific groups of children;
· produce clear explanations,
step-by-step examples or model examples; and
· create assessment
materials, such as practice questions and mock exams.
As part of the evaluation, led by the National Foundation for
Educational Research (NFER), 58 schools will be randomly assigned
to either the ChatGPT group or control group. Those assigned to
the delivery group will use ChatGPT in their Key Stage 3 science
lesson and resource preparation, supported by the online ChatGPT
guide. The control group will not use ChatGPT or any other GenAI
tool in any lesson and resource preparation.
In addition to online diary entries and surveys, all participants
will also be asked to submit lesson plans to an independent panel
of teachers, who will use them to compare and assess the quality
of AI-generated lesson resources.
In the past year, there has been a huge increase in the demand
for and use of generative AI in schools. But there is currently
very little research into its impact in the classroom, and how
teachers can use it to support improvements to their
practice.
This will be one of the EEF’s first Teacher Choices trials, a new
type of evaluation, which aim to help us learn more about the
impact of non-programmatical approaches that teachers use in
their classrooms.
Secondary schools can sign up to take part in this trial through
the EEF website. Those that
participate will receive a thank you payment for contributing to
the research.
Professor Becky Francis CBE, Chief Executive of the
Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), said:
“Finding ways to make life easier for hardworking, time-poor
teachers has never been more important.
“This is an extraordinarily exciting project – one of the
first of its kind to look at how generative AI could be used to
lighten their significant workload.
“There’s already huge anticipation around how this technology
could transform teachers’ roles, but the research into its actual
impact on practice is – currently – limited.
“The findings from this trial will be an important
contribution to the evidence base, bringing us closer to
understanding how teachers can use AI to their advantage in their
classrooms.”
James Turner, Chief Executive of the Hg Foundation,
said:
“We know there are teacher shortages, especially in STEM
subjects, and significant challenges around teacher workload,
retention and recruitment, particularly in the most disadvantaged
schools.
“Generative AI could be a game-changer for social mobility
and equity, which is why we were so keen to develop the free
ChatGPT toolkit.
“But to realise generative AI’s potential, and to avoid the
pitfalls, we need high quality evidence on its impact so teachers
can make the most effective decisions.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Education
Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity
dedicated to breaking the link between family income and
educational achievement. We do this by supporting schools,
colleges, and early years settings to improve teaching and
learning through better use of evidence.
2. The EEF’s recent evidence review exploring
the best available international research on supporting teacher
recruitment and retention is available here.
