Could teachers be replaced with robots?

[noblegiraffe]

This is increasingly being suggested as a solution to the critical lack of teachers, particularly at secondary school.

My general position is that we saw how pupils are not motivated to learn when left to their own devices at home over lockdown. As a teacher, a lot of my day is spent getting kids to do the work, in various ways.

This blog by Becky Allen "Will students feel motivated to work for the AI-masters?' is an interesting discussion of the issue. It refers to Animal Crossing making you feel guilty for neglecting your characters, the Duolingo owl encouraging you to keep a streak and so on. Personally, I find closing the rings on my Apple Watch the only thing that has motivated me to do regular exercise.

But what these things all have in common is that they are things that the student has opted into in the first place. Presumably there was some initial motivation on their part that just needs a nudge to keep going.

An important part of teaching is building relationships with the pupils on a human level. Can a student build a relationship with an AI? Well, definitely. But on a widespread enough scale for it to be more effective than humans interaction? Not sure.

However, would it be better than no teacher? Most likely.

https://rebeccaallen.co.uk/2024/01/13/artificial-incentives-will-students-feel-motivated-to-work-for-their-ai-masters/

I taught myself a language on my own during covid. It was good fun

A motivated adult can teach themselves, yes. How well do you think that would work with teenagers doing 9 different subjects, at least some of which they dislike?

Maybe eventually when robotics and AI becomes more advanced

I think the first step will be of benefit to teachers e.g. lesson planning, maybe marking homework, any type of admin style work

If the metaverse takes off you could see pupils joining from home in whats feels like a real classroom

Microsoft is launching immersive spaces where you have your own full body avatar sitting in a meeting room to make virtual meetings feel more real.

Then there is potential use of vr headsets

I dont think your job will go.

Yes as in Lockdown it would work with motivated kids who were willing to self study and had parents who made them sit there and do the work, but what about the others? Maybe we will need fewer jobs because of AI, do what are we going to do with the undereducated who were playing x box during school time? Robots don't pay tax or buy things so there won't be enough money to pay for them to be on benefits.

But why should they study 9 subjects some of which they dislike? This is a hangover from how things ‘used to be’
The current profile of teacher job might well become superseded required a different skill /type of person - just like lots of other jobs have been made obsolete- in the 60s who’d have thought a shorthand typist would be replaced by technology?
More targeted subject matter to the actual interests of the person will make for much better outcomes than the regimented 9 subjects.

I think that the problem is that we are losing the ability to manage human relationships. This has been happening for years (fewer people staying close to extended families, need to go where the work is, loss of community hubs from pubs to churches, fewer things people volunteer for) and this was massively exacerbated and hastened along by Covid. Now we are seeing the fall out from this, not least in people also recalibrating what they want from work or (dare I say it....don't want to point the finger at the young) having a different work ethic that isn't comparable with modern teaching.
We are getting worse at human relationships and, for schools and those in them to thrive, we need to connect more not less. This needs money, training and a massive look at what the needs really are. Wasn't it Desmond Tutu who said that at some point we need to stop trying to fish people out of the river and find out why they're falling into it in the first place? No amount of AI is going to help until we do this.

I was just about to say the same. Perhaps a lot of the reason why pupils become disenfranchised, bored and ultimately disruptive is that they’re forced to do subjects they dislike, often because of timetabling issues, teacher availability and teacher preference. More use of tech and AI could massively increase the choice of subjects, more options, etc., I.e a broader choice of books to study in Eng Lit rather than the teacher’s choice, more module options in history, broader choice of languages,etc. Perhaps it could end the big problem of the “one size fits all” comps? If the “willing” students can do more on their own, it sure.y means more time and flexibility for teachers with the underachieving ones who need more 1-1 support.

the choice of subjects, more options, etc., I.e a broader choice of books to study in Eng Lit rather than the teacher’s choice

The teacher's choice at GCSE is what's on the syllabus and also in the stock cupboard. At A level more freedom.

I disagree that we should narrow the curriculum bmdown to just what chukdren like or enjoy at first though, because a lot of learning is cumulative and therefore gets more enjoyable the more you know
And making links across subjects is a higher level skill that needs to be overtly.modelled from every age
Sorry bad typing I have plaster on my finger

So me at 10 wouldn't have chosen to continue maths for example, but me at 16 then started enjoying maths, if I hadn't been effectively made to stick it out, my life chances would've been severely.limited.

Also, new learning always feels hard/uncomfortable, chikdren are increasingly less resilient so part of school is teachjng them the skill of knowing they can achieve anything just with time and effort and perseverance. If we change the broad and balanced curriculum to "do only what feels good/what you enjoy" children want learnt this key skill of HOW to learn, and will also have very limited job options later in life. Eg I could only apply to be a teacher because I had my gcse maths

At least robots don't go on strike and call in sick.

But why should they study 9 subjects some of which they dislike? This is a hangover from how things ‘used to be’

At what age do you think they should be able to ditch all the subjects they don't like? Children are not necessarily very good at knowing what will be useful in the future, or even what they will find interesting or boring in a couple of years time. That's one of the reasons why it's important to have a broad curriculum. There's nothing very modern or forward-thinking about allowing kids to massively rsstrict their future options.

Pros and Cons to it and lots of big questions that arise from it like

• What is School for? — Is teaching and learning only about individual’s information retention?

Can’t be all or nothing but a blend that doesn’t look to straight forwardly replace the current model eg substitute teachers for AI in a like for like manner.

However I think, advances will be shoehorned into the current model in a reactive rather than proactive fashion and be a complete balls up.

I think this is interesting from two perspectives: one, the content of learning for many subjects can be delivered efficiently online. Two, with AI and automatisation taking all the jobs childcare is one thing real humans are still needed for.

I think a good solution would be a teched up version of how Montessorri/Steiner schools work. School becoming a place with many different spaces, and mentors. Areas for learning using tech, areas for interacting with peers, areas for various skills works and sports. And kids and mentors working with individualised work plans.

useful in the future,
what is likley to be useful in the future is definitely not learning quotes from ‘whatever happens to be in the school stockroom’ !! If it is a teacher defending that then please let him/her be replaced by AI. (Or indeed by ordinary I)

Teachers defending the old ways is resonant of dinosaur/luddite Arthur Scargill defending jobs that caused chronic life limiting illnesses because that was all he knew and was traditional. Or indeed the actual Luddites.

God forbid we pay people proper wages 🙄 and how much do you think this technology is going to cost? It won't be cheap. And technology has a habit of breaking down, robots will still need servicing, updating and so on.

useful in the future,
what is likley to be useful in the future is definitely not learning quotes from ‘whatever happens to be in the school stockroom’ !! If it is a teacher defending that then please let him/her be replaced by AI. (Or indeed by ordinary I)

What was I defending, exactly, except a broad curriculum? Schools, curricula and syllabuses need massive change and modernisation. There is no doubt about that, but if the government announced that they wanted to replace teachers with AI, do you honestly think that would be their motivation? Nope. It would simply be done to make up for their massive and continued failure to recruit and retain teachers. Most teachers want reform. Why do you think they are leaving?

The AI will only do what it's been instructed to do - i.e. teach the same content that teachers do, in order that the kids pass the same exams. If 'quotes from whatever happens to be in the stock cupboard' are still necessary for the exam, that's what the AI would get them to learn.

AI will soon allow one to one, bespoke teaching, which responds to the individual child's progress. It will be akin to a personal tutor.

Well if the ai is anything like sparx maths it will be dreary and make children lose all love of learning.

I would say that the endpoint of education should be to teach children how to think and to become life long learners who are able to teach themselves the additional things they need to know through out their lives.

I am not sure that the exact content matters as long as there is substantive content to engage with. So a child could learn research skills through history or science. Or they could learn to think logically in maths or computer science or Latin.

Unfortunately I can imagine a future in which children in state schools sit in large halls in silence being supervised whilst they work on screens.

Meanwhile their privately educated counterparts will be given bespoke tuition by experts in their subjects.

We are already on the way there in some academies where every PowerPoint for every lesson is fixed and predetermined and there is no flexibility to adapt to the needs of the class.

Don't forget, a lot of children with real life teachers, finding it tedious and boring and can't wait to leave, it's not as if every teacher is able to engage and inspire their pupils.

Yes, a robot to put up displays please!

Maybe robots to support individual students with their work?

AI will soon allow one to one, bespoke teaching, which responds to the individual child's progress. It will be akin to a personal tutor.

I'm mentally comparing that with my MFL lessons, where kids get to actually speak to each other, and to me, in a foreign language. We do activities and games which involve moving around, gesture, discussion and noise and excitement. Do some people really not understand the value of actual human interaction and group experiences? Are you not aware what online learning did to a lot of kids during lockdown?

Yes there is a myth that transfer are are all inspiring -they’re not -we hear on hear all the time how they are ‘on their knees’
I am a teacher and enjoy my job but no illusions about being irreplaceable. We should embrace new possibilities for individual learning rather than clinging on to ‘our jobs’

Yes that's what I am saying. A lot of academies are already on the way there to a tedious computer based approach by forcing the teachers to deliver really dull and uninspiring lessons that are all the same.

Yes, but we have a class size of 30, how much one to one is each child getting? I think the future will see a mix between real life teachers with smaller groups and bespoke AI teaching. The lockdown teaching was terrible for my kids, the teachers were often I'll with Covid and wouldn't mark their homework. This technology is changing fast and we should embrace it.

I don't see any problem with a mixture of real teachers and AI. In terms of format, that's not really much different from booking a computer room for one of your class' lessons per week at the moment. I do wondee what would happen about behaviour problems though, if there were no teacher in the room.