RU
I had recently seen a news story back in the UK about a school in London that will be trialling a teacherless AI school. It would be the first school to be entirely AI, so no human teachers whatsoever. While there has been a mixed reaction to this with some being avid supporters and others staunchly against it, my wonder has been, would it actually work well as an education experience?
For me, and I’m sure for most people, the main role of the teacher that no-one talks about is the social interactions. Not that students need a friend that sits in the classroom per say, but it’s certainly true that it’s not purely about a professional interaction. You want a teacher that laughs with you, cries with you, relishes in your achievements and supports you to keep going on when you feel like giving up. In fairness, this could be applied to a plethora of people that children interact with, but their teachers are the ones they probably spend the longest amount of time with day to day. Not only that, but research shows that students that feel connected to their teachers improve their academic performance and this is probably linked to how a comfortable learning environment encourages students to take part, ask questions and get involved with activities given to them.
While I can see AI playing an increasingly bigger role in education, I find it harder to envisage that it can replace a human teacher completely. While AI can provide personalised learning experiences and instant feedback, it lacks the emotional intelligence and human connection that teachers offer. AI cannot substitute for the empathy, encouragement and understanding that a dedicated teacher can provide. A teacher can recognise when a student is struggling not just academically but emotionally, offering support that a machine cannot. This personal touch is what helps students navigate challenges and develop resilience. Connected to this idea, just as AI do not have any understanding of how human minds operate and so do not understand the learning process, it has also been shown time after time that AI is incapable of true creativity, merely recycling and repurposing the content of what’s already online. I would think most people would agree that we want our educators to foster the creativity of our children, so when you think in these terms, it seems quite absurd to put something in charge of their education that utterly lacks the ability to be creative. The right human educator, however, can show demonstrations of creativity, help students see what original thoughts look like, as well as giving children a methodology for to organise their ideas.
Moreover, teachers often curate individualised learning plans tailored to each student’s unique needs and strengths. Again, whilst I am sure AI have some ability to understand what students might be lacking when given back their work, does it understand other contextual things surrounding the child? Would an AI program understand what personalities and interests students have and how this would impact their abilities and performance in school. Would AI be able to factor in the different learning styles that students learn better from? The detail that is often missing in education when we discuss individual needs, is that the personal and social factors in a child’s life has a direct impact on their academics too and again, would AI understand how these things impact a child’s learning?
In conclusion, the point I would like to make clear here is that education is not just about the facts used in the lesson or the structure of the lesson. It is also about the relationship between the students and teacher, which effective teachers use to understand what strengths the students have, what the students need and what the smaller steps are to achieve this, which I certainly think would be missing entirely from an teacherless education.
Mr Powell, Year 5 Teacher
