Teacher in private school using AI for everything.

[ShakespeareSallo]

As the title says really.

My now teenage child has attended a private school since 11, they are now in Year 10. It has been a great experience for them and worth the money. We aren’t rich by any means but afford it by making cut backs, we haven’t been on holiday for 5 years. VAT has hugely impacted us.

My child now has a teacher for a core subject which they haven’t had before. They bring their book home every week, and it is very obvious that the whole scheme of work and all of the worksheets and homework are AI generated. I am not a dinosaur, and I do use AI myself. However, this level of usage coming from my child’s teacher seems excessive, and I am not sure how much actual teaching is going on? My child has also said all of the PowerPoints used in lessons are obviously AI generated, and even that it has appeared as though the things on the PowerPoints the teacher is seeing for the first time alongside the students?!

Less of an issue, but I’ve also had some suspiciously AI looking and sounding emails from other members of staff in the school.

WIBU to arrange a meeting with the Head of Year to raise these concerns, or is this just the modern era of teaching?

Are you a teacher? Do you actually know the many many different kinds of resource that could be created for use in lessons? Its not just pp slides with bullet point notes on. Interactive quizzes, flashcards, embedded clips which may require a lot of time and IT knowledge to create from scratch. Using any of that in no way reflects a teacher's depth of subject knowledge.

You can’t use AI to create a lesson unless you have good subject knowledge. AI makes mistakes, and any teacher using it to help them make resources will proof read it and check it. You need the subject knowledge in order to make the resources even with AI. You can’t practise the perfect tense, using AI to make a worksheet, without first teaching the pupils how the perfect tense is constructed. Why are people so horrified by teachers saving some time? I don’t want to sit there for five minutes thinking up verbs that don’t do anything funny in the past participle and are relevant for the topic I’m teaching when AI can give me 20 examples in an instant. My subject knowledge lets me scan that list and reject any verbs that AI has made a mistake on. Should I really not save those 5 minutes?

I don't see the issue

Some people just don’t seem to get it, and I say this as someone who only occasionally uses AI.

I think it's very telling and depressing that so many obviously non teachers feel qualified to comment on what we should be doing and how.

There are many ways AI could be used; I don’t think it’s always obvious, but even if it was so what? As others have said, you need good subject knowledge to give the right input to AI to get a decent output. Then it can be proofread.

Resources (PowerPoints, worksheets, etc) are just that - resources, tools - and no more. They are not the entire lesson, they are just a tool for the teacher to use to facilitate learning.

They clearly don’t understand, and some seem to be horrified that teachers might save time on menial tasks. Is it that they never save time on menial tasks when they can? Do they wash their laundry by hand and make a coal fire to cook instead of using an oven? 😂

The whole point with AI is to review the resources it’s made. If they are good, then no problem with teaching with them. If they are crap, then there’s an issue.

Some teachers don’t want to spend all their time managing it though, and would rather work in a school with a more academic focus.

Can you not think why those in other professions may have an opinion on this- perhaps those that are far more knowledgeable about AI than teachers?

you need to come over and settle the baby!!! I read your comment and howled with laughter I woke the baby….

In the not too distant past schools bought in schemes of work. Lesson plans, extensions, worksheets etc.

They were produced by educational publishers along with text books etc. Some larger local authorities did them too although without the text books.

Some were good, some relevant - but there was no guarantee of suitability.

I found it hard to teach someone elses work and preferred to do my own, building up a body of work and keeping it under review.

If AI had been around when I was teaching I would definitely have used it.

Exactly. I trained and did my time in tough schools. Broke up fights, maintained discipline, did my best to keep learning happening at the same time. I could have stayed there but the opportunity arose to work in beautiful calm surroundings with kids and parents who wanted to be there. Im not so much of a martyr to stay at the first place out of some misplaced sense of social responsibility. I'm an academic with a strong ability to communicate difficult concepts to receptive kids effectively. With and without AI. Im old enough to remember PowerPoint taking over from OHPs.

But they're not commenting on AI, they are commenting on classroom delivery and they clearly have no idea what that looks like.

This sounds as if "written" by AI! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Which professions? Teachers are commenting about teaching, and using AI where it can facilitate menial but time consuming tasks. Resources created by AI (but still with input from a teacher and proof reading) are just tools, they are not the entire lesson, as I’ve said above.

If there are any computer scientists or AI experts then their opinions are welcome, provided they understand classroom practice.

This, and I also doubt they are computer scientists.

Good for you, and what is an OHP?

I am newly qualified and have worked in some tough schools, where the culture among pupils and attitude towards teachers was frankly appalling and not really excusable. I’m also academic (Oxbridge degree, Masters), and I’ve found that behaviour management (or crowd control as I like to call it, because that’s effectively what it is) is one of the most important aspects of the job in those contexts. And that really isn’t for me.

The reality is relying on AI for speeding up the task of thinking does lead to weakened reasoning. For a human to apply reason in the face of feelings, to gain and maintain knowledge, requires time and energy- in other words, use it or lose it!

It's not about being a computer scientist, in fact, I'm not sure there would be much interest from that profession.

Those working in regulatory areas of data governance or data ethics for example. Introducing these practices in schools need to be scrutinised not just embraced without any regard for the above.

The DfE have already released guidance and training modules.

These practices are being scrutinised in schools and education as AI develops and subject to continuing research. You clearly have no idea about teaching practice. The teacher still has to have depth of knowledge and critical thinking skills to know if what AI produces meets their objectives and is accurate. And if it doesn’t then that in itself is a useful tool to teach learners about the pitfalls of trusting AI and AI literacy to ensure critical thinking skills are passed on. It should be an open conversation not shut down and ignored.

the D of E has produced guidance about responsible AI practice, what this looks like and clearly states:
’We see more immediate benefits and fewer risks from teacher-facing use of generative AI.’

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-artificial-intelligence-in-education/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-in-education

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/using-ai-in-education-settings-support-materials

Yes, you use a washing machine to wash your clothes; but what lots of people are doing with AI is the equivalent of asking your washing machine to choose what you should wear, put your outfits together and tell you to put your arms up in the air and count to 5 so that it can dress you every morning like you're a toddler.

An OHP is an overhead projector. A flat glass plate with a strong lamp and mirror that projected an image from the clear acetate that you wrote on. If you were really lucky you could get an acetate through a photocopier to get an image from.a book on it. It meant you could reuse an image or set of notes for multiple classes and not turn your back on a class.
Im a strong believer in finding your place. There's no gold medals for sticking it out in a tough school. I love my current school and the teaching it allows me to do. Good luck with it.