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Teachers using ChatGPT – alongside a guide to support them to use it effectively - can cut lesson planning time by over 30 per cent

Teachers using ChatGPT, alongside a guide to support them to use it effectively, can reduce their lesson planning time by 31 per cent. This is according to the findings from a landmark trial published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) today. 

The independent evaluation of the trial, led by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), investigated teachers’ use of ChatGPT during lesson and resource planning and the impact on their workload.

259 teachers in 68 secondary schools across England took part in the randomised controlled trial. Of those, 129 teachers in 34 schools were randomly allocated to use ChatGPT alongside a guide on effective implementation, to support lesson and resource preparation for their Year 7 and 8 science classes.

The guide was designed by Bain & Company’s Social Impact practice with input from a number of schools and education charities, and funded by The Hg Foundation. Most teachers in the ChatGPT group were positive about the guide, agreeing that it was easy to understand and relevant.

The teachers who were allocated to use ChatGPT in the trial used it to help with tasks that included creating questions and quizzes, generating activity ideas, and tailoring existing materials to specific groups of pupils. On average, teachers used ChatGPT to support a third of their Year 7 and 8 science lessons and most commonly to plan for one activity within each lesson.

The evaluators found that the group of teachers who used ChatGPT, shaved off an average of 25.3 minutes from their weekly Year 7 and 8 lesson and resource planning time, compared to the comparison group of teachers who were asked not to use ChatGPT, or any other generative AI tools. This brought their Year 7 and 8 planning time down to 56.2 minutes per week compared to 81.5 minutes in the group asked to avoid using any generative AI. These findings highlight the potential for tools like ChatGPT to help address the stubborn issue of high workloads for teachers.  

As well as looking at the impact on workload of utilising ChatGPT, the research also considered the key question of its impact on lesson quality. A sample of lesson materials and resources collected from teachers were reviewed by an independent panel of teachers. The analysis indicated no noticeable difference in quality between the two groups. Teachers’ own perception of the quality of the resources they had produced also aligned with this finding. However, as the independent assessment was based on a limited sample of lesson resources submitted by participating teachers, this finding – while promising - should be treated with caution.   

In the past year, there has been a huge increase in the demand for and use of generative AI in schools. Today’s research is an important first step in building an evidence base around how generative AI tools like ChatGPT can be used in ways that support teachers, particularly in reducing their workload. A review of the evidence, published by the EEF last year, found that that strategies to reduce workload were associated with improved teacher retention.

Emily Yeomans, co-Chief Executive at Education Endowment Foundation said: 

“It’s promising to see the positive findings coming through from this research. This provides us with the vital first piece in the puzzle of AI’s role in the future of teaching. 

“As the teacher recruitment and retention crisis is continuing to grip our education system, there is one issue we hear about again and again – an unmanageable, high workload. If AI has the potential to help address this then we must explore not just if, but how we could harness these technologies to save teachers’ time without reducing quality. 

“Now we must look to build a far clearer picture of the best use of AI in education, using this initial research as a springboard to further research and development of an evidence-informed approach.”

 

Ben Styles, Head of Classroom Practice and Workforce at NFER said: 

“It is exciting to discover that, on average, teachers saved time with their lesson planning when using ChatGPT. This appears to have been without any reduction in lesson quality, although more research is needed to be sure of this. It is important to note that using AI was reserved for certain specific activities within lesson planning. Although teachers found it helpful, other aspects of their workload such as marking and administration probably represent a greater burden and we look forward to exploring the potential for AI to make inroads here too.”

 

James Turner, CEO of The Hg Foundation, said:

“STEM teachers are a highly precious resource and supporting them is a crucial part of our mission to build the pipeline of talent into the sector.   Any tools that free up their time and retain them in the system – especially in the most disadvantaged schools - is a huge win.  So we are delighted that this collaborative effort has shown Generative AI’s promise in saving science teachers time.  The results are highly scalable as further adoption depends only on access to free resources.”

 

Gemma Cotton, partner at Bain & Company who works extensively with the firm’s Social Impact practice, said:

“We know teacher workload is a big issue in schools in the UK, which is contributing to recruitment and retention issues.  We think ChatGPT has great potential for use by teachers, so we wanted to get practical and provide a starting point for new users on how to get great results for use in the classroom. 

“In developing the ‘Teaching with ChatGPT’ guide, we worked with a team of 40 teachers from our network of partner schools, as well as on initial trials, to understand the best places to use the AI technology, what teachers can achieve with it, and best practices to secure the most effective results. At Bain, we were excited to support this project as an important part of our social impact work with communities in the UK, focused on fostering better futures and upward mobility through education.”

Access the guide here