AI School Report - Ok or not Ok?

[whathappensnextthen]

Dc came home with Her School report yesterday, she's in Year 2 (6yr old). The opening statement was long and very professional written, lots of complex language and descriptive words. DB (her uncle) was there when I was reading it and said straight away it's AI written. We put it into an online research tool and it came back as 100% generated, with no personal touches added whatsoever.

AIBU to be upset?

For the record, DNieces also came home with theirs which was very obviously personally written and what you would expect from a Primary School Report.

How many children per class?

I give absolutely no shits about whether or not the report has been AI generated as long as the information within it has been personalised for my child.
We've had years of copy and paste and that's ok too (though my son was somehow called Evie for the majority of one report which was a bit disconcerting!)

For those harking back to the good old days we found DHs school report from around year 6.
It consisted of marks A to F and then super constructive criticism like "John is useless at maths, though tries adequately". "No ball skills, and hopeless in goal" "Good reader, terrible writer".
"Overall John is an average pupil with good attendance".

Well done for writing 28 personalised reports. I had over 330 to write; what do you suggest I do?

There’s no point in telling me what my child has been taught after they’ve been taught it, I want to know that when it happens, and I want to know where the gaps are, what levels they’re at and what they need to improve on and how.

Let me put something into context for you…
primary school teacher here. I have high levels of SEND in my class and due to cuts I can’t get the support my children need from outside agencies (I am not alone with this). I differentiate every lesson I plan and spend every lunchtime with these children because they can’t cope with mainstream routines. Again this is becoming the norm in primary schools - by a Wednesday I feel burnt out…
I get into school everyday at 7 am and leave after 6 to get the job done.
I spend every weekend planning and resourcing lessons.
In a week I have two hours PPA
Then there are reports - 30 children equates to a minimum of 30 hours work. I am supposed to use my PPA time…
I lead two subjects and again due to cuts there is no cover to release me for subject leadership time.
I have no problem with people who can make AI work for them.
I ask you, how much more do you expect from a teacher?
Teachers are leaving the profession in mass numbers because of the insane workload. Our education is built on goodwill and the dedication of teachers.
Every teacher is doing their personal best in VERY difficult circumstances. In the very near future you may find your little darling gets taught by an AI teacher because human teachers are on their knees.

FGS where’s that violin

you have a tough and challenging job

of which there are loads out there

Loads of teachers in precisely same situation. as you don’t rely on AI

@itistooeasy

AI, cut and paste from previous years! Using a bank of sentences. There's always been lots of ways to reduce report writing time - what's wrong with getting AI to do it!

Yes we have a never list of jobs to do, responsibilities in education is just going up and up and we don't get to switch off as emails from staff, parents and external people outside of work time. Or need to be responded to outside of work time as no other time to do it!

Lots of teachers/ educators are in burn out, me included. Lots are leaving education and getting less stressful jobs where the expectations are realistic!

I have proofread 1000’s of reports and written 1000’s of my own. Most teachers basically have a range of about 3/4 reports that they copy and paste filling in individual details such as name, grade, name of good piece of work and one of about three appropriate targets. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. There is an art to making them sound personalised but very few actually are.

Loads of teachers in precisely same situation. as you don’t rely on AI

Their choice. Many teachers are choosing to use AI in many different aspects of their work. Because embracing the future is what we all need to do, I think. Whether it's good or bad is something to look at in a few years time, perhaps? I bet the number of teachers who used AI this year for report writing is massively up on last year. I bet it is further increased next year. It's a tool. It saves teachers time. That is a really good thing.

Ours are just standard templates too, nothing personal. It reads like a stranger wrote it! I don't get excited about receiving it and don't pay much attention to it for that reason. It's clearly just a paper exercise and in no way benefits anyone, I would rather they didn't bother doing it all to be honest (as would the teachers, I'm sure!). We are meant to pick up ours up this year from school for some reason (normally comes home in the school bag) but I've still not bothered... Will get it eventually...

This

Fair enough that you find it funny, but many of us don't. Copying and pasting from Issac's report into your sons is actually a data breach. It happened to us when DC were in primary, I didn't actually find it funny at all. My son was called Lucy through more than half of the report.

I didn't really need to know about other DC in the class and didn't really want other parents knowing about my DC.

The problem is teachers are not given (enough) time to write reports - it may be as little as an hour or up to one day - when report writing takes days if you want to do it properly and thoroughly. So, what is the incentive to do days of unpaid over time when others are using quick solutions? And, as parents, which would you prefer: a generalised report which summarises your child's learning and his/her successes, or have the teacher out of class for days doing reports?

OT comment:

NB it is free ‘rein’, not free ‘reign’. A very common error.

I only point out errors like this to teachers as I think it can be useful. Or to dickheads (you are clearly not that!).

Hope you don’t think I am terrible, or indeed a dickhead for doing so. As a professional, I think I would want to know. Feel free to tell me that IABU!

😂
Oh yes!
My mistake with the homophone!
My grammar on here is terrible as I’m always in a rush or quickly messaging before my boys destroy each other.

Ha I can imagine.

Free ‘reign’ makes sense in many ways. Many people don’t know that ‘free rein’ refers to loosening a horse’s reins so it has the freedom to move more independently. I am not a horse person but that makes sense too I guess!

You miss the point. Your son and Lucy had exactly the same performance and feedback, that’s why Lucy’s report was used as the template to C&P. The report would have been exactly the same if your son’s name had been correct throughout.

(there were probably 10 other kids with exactly the same report too).

You’re the one going on about shit teachers and schools…
I was simply putting into context why some teachers do use AI.
Just popping off now to play my violin now… Need to practice as the ship (aka state education) is sinking fast!

I'd love to see you write individualised comments for 30 children. The fact is, most children are fine - they do their work, they're pleasant, they try, etc. There are only so many ways to say the same thing over and over - as long as what's written is actually accurate (which it will be) does it matter that the teacher didn't spend hours crafting individual phrases tailored to your precious child?

I'm so glad I'm not a teacher any more. Parent expectations are not just plain stupid - it's as if parents can't imagine at all what it's like having to write hour after hour after hour of 'Jane has tried hard this year.' I mean, just try, for a second, please. Have some bloody sense.

surprised you’re not popping off for 8 hours of marking on a saturday whilst your children look on forlornly

Sorry that should say 'parent expectations are just plain stupid'

AI is here to stay so everyone needs to get used to it. Teachers are actively being trained in AI and even encouraged to use it. AI is already being used to plan lessons, make resources, and yes write reports.

Some teachers

My primary reports consisted of one sheet of paper with 'good' or 'excellent' for each subject and 'X is a pleasure to teach' in the comment box! Imagine the red-faced horror parents would greet that with today!

Yes you did make me consider free reign and how that works really well too!
Less free reign at least now with a government to keep the monarchy in check!