Almost two-thirds of adults are opposed to teachers using artificial intelligence to mark coursework, research shows.
And a third of people do not agree with teachers using AI to complete admin tasks, according to a YouGov poll commissioned by Cambridge University Press and Assessment.
The survey comes after the Department for Education released guidance on generative AI, which suggests that teachers could use it to draft emails to parents or write school policies.
The findings, published today, prompted the chief executive of exam board OCR, which is run by Cambridge University Press and Assessment, to call for the sector to find a way to adapt coursework “so it is fit for the AI century”.
Teachers using AI
While 59 per cent of the 2,221 adults surveyed agreed that teachers should use AI for admin, 31 per cent opposed it.
However, respondents were less positive about teachers using AI for marking.
Some 62 per cent were against the idea of teachers using AI to mark coursework, with just 27 per cent in favour.
The two biggest concerns raised by respondents about the use of AI in education were errors in AI information and a reduction in human interaction.
Respondents were also asked for their views on students using AI in coursework. Almost nine in 10 disagreed with students using AI to entirely complete their school coursework.
However, respondents were split on whether students should use AI to improve the punctuation and grammar in their coursework, with 46 per cent in favour and 44 per cent against.
Only around one in six adults believe reducing or removing coursework is the best way for schools to avoid the misuse of AI, according to the survey.
Around half of the adults polled said they thought that responsible use of AI should be added to the secondary school curriculum. However, just a third supported adding it to the primary school curriculum.
Call for a national strategy
Jill Duffy, chief executive of OCR, called for a coordinated national strategy on AI, along with funding.
“AI is already in our schools and is not going away. A coordinated national strategy, with funding to ensure no schools are left behind, will build public confidence in its transformational potential,” she said.
“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.”
You can now get the UK’s most-trusted source of education news in a mobile app. Get Tes magazine on and on
