Most people in the UK support teachers using AI for tasks such as lesson planning in schools but oppose its use for marking, a new survey on AI use in education reveals.
The nationally representative survey, commissioned by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, showed Brits were divided on whether students should use AI to improve punctuation and grammar in coursework.
Key findings:
- Most people (59%) back teachers using AI on admin tasks such as lesson planning, and 31% are against it.
- Approximately two thirds (62%) of UK adults oppose teachers using AI to mark coursework, 27% support it.
- 89% of those polled are against students using AI to entirely complete their school coursework, 5% think it’s acceptable.
- People were split on students using AI to improve the punctuation and grammar of their coursework (46% in favour and 44% against).
- Only 16% of UK adults support reducing or removing coursework completed at home as the best way for schools to avoid student AI misuse.
- 52% of UK adults think responsible use of AI should be added to the secondary school curriculum, only 34% support adding it to the primary school curriculum.
- The top two concerns identified by UK adults about the use of AI in education were errors in AI information, and less human interaction.
The survey reveals a clear divide in attitudes to AI use by gender, for example:
- More women (67%) than men (57%) in the survey oppose teachers using AI to mark coursework.
- More women (40%) than men (29%) surveyed oppose adding responsible use of AI to the curriculum in secondary schools.
Jill Duffy, chief executive of Cambridge’s UK exam board OCR, said: “AI is already in our schools and is not going away. The public is clear that coursework is too important to lose, even in the age of AI. It enables us to test different skills, and to reduce the intense volume of exams taken at 16. These findings should be seen as a challenge to all of us in education: find a way to adapt coursework so it is fit for the AI century.”
