How AI Can Give Teachers Their Time Back?

Most of us remember our favourite teachers, those who went the extra mile, who inspired, who coached, who cared, and who made a huge difference in our formative years. So why are we experiencing a national trend of below-target recruitment for initial teacher training and low teacher retention, especially in the first few years? Is it perhaps that teaching is a career seen to be at risk of replacement by online tutors? Maybe the dream of inspiring the next generation does not go far enough to counter the comparatively low remuneration for what surveys suggest is often close to a 60-hour working week? The consensus is that people do not want AI to replace teachers, but the possibilities AI presents might just be the key to encouraging growth in the teaching talent base. Is AI the solution to giving time back to the profession and returning the focus to exploring and delivering the essence of what it is to be a great teacher?

Those who work in schools will be familiar with the sight of dedicated teachers staying late in their classrooms and taking laptops home each night to work long after official ‘school opening hours’. This is nothing new, but sadly, the reason for this extended working day is rarely to plan an inspiring lesson or to support a child in need. Time once filled with creative planning and preparation in response to live lesson feedback and a corresponding pile of marked books is often consumed with completing seemingly endless administrative tasks. Creating and reviewing pastoral incident records, analysing ‘value added’ performance against target grades, evidencing progress tracking, assimilating compliance documents, writing co-curricular reports, preparing for inspection, crafting catchy social media marketing posts, and responding to parent emails have become the hidden curriculum of modern teaching, often with each task requiring logging in to a different online platform. These duties have arisen for good reason, but there is no getting away from the fact that they are time-consuming.

In schools across the UK, colleagues juggling multiple administrative systems understand that these tasks are vital but are aware that they detract from the most important business at hand: children. We need our teachers to focus their energy on making a positive impact on the learning, well-being, and development of their pupils.

Artificial intelligence offers a way to rebalance this. Used thoughtfully, it can automate or accelerate many of the routine jobs that distract professionals from focusing on the children’s educational experience. AI-powered tools can generate drafts for letters and emails in the teacher’s tone, prepare risk assessments for trips, provide differentiated lesson resources linked to curriculum objectives, create initial templates for newsletters, social media posts and parent updates, collate inspection evidence, analyse data trends, and draft policy documents for refinement. The opportunities are as broad as the teachers’ imagination. None of this replaces professional judgement; it simply provides a head start.

The real gain is not technological but professional. Every hour saved by AI is an hour teachers can reinvest in what they do best: teaching, guiding, and supporting pupils. The art of education: empathy, creativity, and pastoral care are elements that define great schools and cannot be automated. However, the art of education can be better supported.

As leaders, we have a responsibility to approach AI ethically and thoughtfully. Piloting tools in small ways, setting clear boundaries around data use, and sharing best practices across schools will be key. The goal is not efficiency for its own sake, but a renewed focus on the human core of education. AI will not transform schools overnight, but it offers a genuine chance to ease administrative burden and restore professional balance. If we embrace it wisely, we can ensure that technology serves teachers and, consequently, better serves the children in our schools.

Words by Cathy Braithwaite

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