NAHT responds to announcement of funding for AI tools to help with marking

Responding to the government's announcement of £1m of funding for 16 ed tech companies to build teacher AI tools for feedback and marking, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said:

“Teachers are struggling with enormous amounts of workload, so it makes sense to explore AI's potential to make some written tasks quicker and easier for teachers – and these could include marking and lesson planning.

“Such tools cannot replace the judgement and deep subject knowledge of a human expert, however, and it will be vital that teachers retain professional oversight as pledged in these plans.

“School leaders and teachers need training and guidance in order to feel confident using AI, and the technology should be introduced gradually in order to maximise its potential and mitigate the risks.”