AI Training for Teachers: Using AI in the Classroom Safely and Marking Honestly

This online course designed for educators explores the practical applications of artificial intelligence in classroom settings. Teachers at all levels will learn how to integrate AI tools into their teaching methods while maintaining academic integrity and safety standards. The programme covers essential topics including AI literacy, responsible usage guidelines, privacy considerations, and strategies for honest assessment practices. Participants examine real-world examples of AI implementation across different subjects and age groups, ensuring they understand both opportunities and potential challenges. Each lesson includes practical advice and actionable steps that teachers can apply immediately in their classrooms.

The course structure consists of fifteen detailed lessons, each followed by a quiz to test understanding and retention. A final examination assesses overall comprehension of the material covered throughout the programme. All course materials are freely accessible online, making professional development opportunities available to educators regardless of budget constraints. Upon completion, teachers gain confidence in using AI technologies responsibly while maintaining educational standards. They develop skills to guide students through AI-assisted learning experiences and create fair assessment processes that accommodate new technological tools. Graduates leave with practical strategies they can implement immediately in their teaching practice.

Frequently asked questions

Can teachers use AI to mark student work?

Teachers can use AI as a support tool to work more efficiently, such as generating starting points for feedback or identifying patterns across a class set. However, teachers must review any AI-generated suggestions and make their own assessment of each student’s work. Teachers cannot ethically use automated marking tools that generate final grades for high-stakes work without reviewing the work themselves, as automated systems can produce biased outcomes and miss nuance.

Is it safe to put pupil data into AI tools?

Putting pupil data into external AI tools carries data protection risks that must be managed carefully. Before sending pupil data to an external system, a data processing agreement must be in place between the school and the service provider, and informed parental consent is required. Teachers should check with their school’s data protection lead whether a data processing agreement exists for any external tool before using it with pupil data. Using free AI tools like ChatGPT with pupil work is risky because the tool’s terms often permit use of input data for training their own systems.

Do AI detection tools actually work?

AI detection tools are unreliable and should not be trusted as evidence of academic dishonesty. They produce both false positives, marking human-written text as AI-generated, and false negatives, failing to detect AI-generated text. As AI systems improve, detection tools become even less reliable. A high detection score is not acceptable evidence of dishonesty. Instead of relying on detection, schools should design assessments that require specific course knowledge and teach pupils about academic integrity.

What are the safeguarding risks of AI chatbots in schools?

Unsupervised access to AI chatbots carries safeguarding risks that educators should take seriously. Young people can interact with chatbots for extended periods and share personal information with systems that respond without judgment. Chatbots can produce harmful or inappropriate content if prompted. They can also inadvertently reinforce isolation or unhealthy thinking patterns through non-judgmental, emotionally responsive interactions. Teachers should supervise access, know which pupils are using chatbots in unsupervised settings, and treat emotional attachment to a chatbot as a safeguarding indicator.

How should a school write an AI policy?

A school AI policy should cover the purposes for which AI can be used, requirements for data protection and informed consent, safeguarding procedures, approval processes for tools, staff training requirements, and procedures for handling safeguarding concerns. The policy should include an approved tools list documenting which systems have been evaluated and cleared for use, what data they process, and what safeguards are in place. The school should maintain records that staff have received training on the policy and approved tools.

Is using AI to plan lessons allowed?

Using AI to help plan lessons is appropriate and is permitted under the EU AI Act. A teacher can use an AI tool to draft learning objectives, suggest activities, or generate revision questions, then review and adapt the AI output before using it with pupils. The key is that the teacher reviews AI-generated content for accuracy, bias, and appropriateness, and makes final decisions about lesson structure and pedagogy.

How can assessment be designed to account for generative AI?

Assessments should require specific knowledge from the course or integration of specific texts and materials studied in class that generic AI cannot provide. Requiring students to show their working, explain their thinking, integrate specific evidence, submit drafts, or reflect on their learning process makes assessments harder to complete with AI alone. These changes also improve assessment pedagogy by focusing on understanding and thinking rather than information retrieval.

Does the EU AI Act cover AI used in education?

The EU AI Act applies to all organisations, including schools. Article 4 AI literacy requires organisations to ensure personnel understand AI systems they use and the risks they pose. This means schools must ensure staff are trained on AI systems deployed in the school. The Act does not ban AI in schools, but it requires documented governance and personnel awareness.

What should pupils be taught about checking AI answers?

Pupils should be taught that AI systems regularly produce plausible-sounding false statements and that they must verify key claims against reliable sources. If an AI tool cites a source, the pupil should locate and confirm that source actually supports what the AI claimed. If an AI tool makes a factual claim, the pupil should cross-check it against reliable sources. Understanding how AI works well enough to understand why hallucinations happen helps pupils develop appropriate scepticism and strengthens their information literacy.