Teachers to use AI to mark homework under new Government plan

AI is being trained up to mark homework for teachers under a new project announced by the Government.

The £4 million scheme will see documents including curriculum guidance, lesson plans and anonymised pupil assessments used to train AI to create tools which can be used reliably in schools.

Research has shown that parents would be open to teachers using generative AI tools to help them with certain tasks, so they could then spend more time helping children in the classroom.

Tests of the new approach carried out by the Department for Education (DfE) found it could increase accuracy to 92%, up from 67% when no targeted data was provided to an AI model.

“We know teachers work tirelessly to go above and beyond for their students,” Science Secretary Peter Kyle said.

“By making AI work for them, this project aims to ease admin burdens and help them deliver creative and inspiring lessons every day, while reducing time pressures they face.

“This is the first of many projects that will transform how we see and use public sector data. We will put the information we hold to work, using it in a safe and responsible way to reduce waiting lists, cut backlogs and improve outcomes for citizens across the country.”

Minister for Early Education Stephen Morgan said: “We are determined to break down the barriers to opportunity to ensure every child can get the best possible education – and that includes access to the best tech innovations for all.

“Artificial intelligence, when made safe and reliable, represents an exciting opportunity to give our schools leaders and teachers a helping hand with classroom life.

“Today’s announcement marks a huge step forward for AI in the classroom.

“This investment will allow us to safely harness the power of tech to make it work for our hard-working teachers, easing the pressures and workload burdens we know are facing the profession and freeing up time, allowing them to focus on face-to-face teaching.”

To encourage innovation under the new scheme, the Government said it would also make the content store of educational data available to AI companies, with a share of £1 million to be awarded to those who brought forward the best ideas for tools to use the data to aid teachers.

According to a survey from TeacherTapp, almost half of teachers were already using AI in some form to help with their work, but the Government said these tools were not specifically trained on teaching materials used in England.