The government must invest in artificial intelligence in education if teachers are to benefit from the technology, a new report claims.

The study, Educ-AI-tion Rebooted, published today by innovation foundation Nesta, contrasts the amount of UK public investment in AI in health with that in education.

It says: “There is very little public R&D funding to support AIEd [artificial intelligence tools for education] in the UK. Our analysis identified just £1 million spent across three years.

“This total appears even lower when compared with other sectors. For example, the government announced £50 million in funding to support AI in healthcare through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.”

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The report, which also outlines parents’ concerns about the use of AI in schools, says AIEd can help to tackle five “wicked challenges” facing schools today:

• Teachers burdened with excessive workload, affecting wellbeing, retention and recruitment;
• ‘One-size-fits-all’ learning, with inflexible learning pathways;
• Narrow assessment inhibiting teaching and learning;
• Difficulty of sharing insights between schools and colleges;
• Inconsistency of education provision and lack of social mobility.
   

The report identifies three categories of AIEd: learning-facing, which helps pupils; teaching-facing, which helps teachers; and system-facing, which helps the wider system.

It says that the AIEd sector in the UK is skewed towards the first category, with 52 of the 69 AIEd companies it identified involved in learner-facing tools, and only 14 involved in teacher-facing ones.

However, it says that the teacher-facing tools present “hugely exciting opportunities to evolve the role of the teacher”, with time saved through the automation of tasks freeing teachers up for other aspects of teaching.

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It adds: “Virtual teaching assistants could enable teachers to experiment and innovate in their classroom - perhaps through facilitating small collaborative groups or by planning class seating plans that reduce behavioural problems.”

And while it acknowledges that some tech company CEOs say they want AIEd to replace teachers, “our research suggests that this is neither possible nor desirable”.

The authors say pressure on school budgets, the up-front costs for companies to enter the market and the fragmented school system represent “unique challenges” for AIEd companies, adding: “These challenges are difficult to overcome without public investment and government support.”

They add that while the UK has the largest edtech sector in Europe, other countries such as China are starting to provide “ambitious systematic support” to AIEd, and warn that “without further government support the UK risks giving up its competitive advantage”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We see huge potential for the education sector to reap the benefits that AI-driven technology has to offer. We recently set out our ambition to build better links between government, technology developers and the education sector.  

“AI-based technology can help students to access new information that is tailored to their individual level of knowledge. It can also reduce workload and improve outcomes in the classroom, by helping teachers focus on their core purpose - teaching.”