THE government is spending £3 million on a “content bank” of resources for tech companies to create AI tools to help teachers in England.

Developers will be able to train their AI models on the Department for Education’s (DfE) teaching standards, guidelines and lesson plans.

This will allow them to generate “accurate, high-quality content” such as workbooks and lesson plans, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

A further £1m will be awarded to developers in a competition for the best ideas to use the DfE’s database in reducing teacher workload.

Each winner will build an AI tool to help teachers with feedback and marking tasks by March 2025.

Many teachers already use AI to assist them, but current AI tools are not trained on material specifically designed or approved for use in England’s classrooms.

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “It is clear that to solve the teacher retention crisis, reducing workload must be a priority — but there must also be a serious and holistic approach both to issues of technology and workload reduction.

“This means properly engaging with the profession to fully understand the implications of AI for education — both the opportunities but also the limitations, risks and ethical concerns that AI presents.  

“Investment should be directed towards enhancing and embedding the voice of teachers and schools, so that AI tools and products genuinely reflect school and college priorities and are tested and evaluated by them.

“We also need the government to continue to prioritise the fundamental structural problems that drive workload– accountability and Ofsted, underfunding, and teacher retention and recruitment.”