How might we co-design tools and policies with teachers to ensure they are shaped by real teaching and learning needs?
How might we co-design tools and policies with teachers to ensure they are shaped by real teaching and learning needs?
The story of AI in education should not be written without teachers, yet too often teachers are excluded from decisions about whether and how AI is used across education systems – from policy to practice.
EdTech Hub’s AI Observatory is exploring how education systems can co-design with teachers to ensure AI tools and policies are shaped by real teaching and learning needs.
This week, in Issue No. 20 of the #WaypointWednesday, we spotlight how countries and partners are empowering teachers to lead, placing teachers’ voices at the centre of decision-making, and reaffirming the irreplaceable role of teachers in the age of AI.
Early signals
Teachers-in-the-Lead
Across the education and technology communities, a shift is underway — one that moves beyond seeing teachers as users of AI-driven tools toward acknowledging their agency, expertise, and leadership in shaping how AI is implemented in education systems. (Teacher Task Force, 2025; UNESCO, 2025)
- LMICs – EdTech Hub Teachers-in-the-Lead Sandboxes: We’re testing a simple but powerful hypothesis: If teachers are meaningfully engaged in shaping whether and how AI is used across education systems — from policy to practice — we will unlock more effective, equitable, and grounded approaches that improve teacher wellbeing, enhance the quality of teaching, and strengthen learning outcomes. (EdTech Hub, 2025)
- Global – Human-Centred AI conference: Building on previous work, Education International brought together teacher unions to reclaim teachers’ agency in the governance of AI in education. The conference positioned unions as key actors in shaping how AI supports pedagogy, equity, and teacher professionalism. (Education International, 2025)
Reaffirming & resourcing the irreplaceable role of teachers
As AI enters education, systems are investing in teachers’ central role amid concerns about workloads, incentives (Duan & Zhao, 2024), and teacher replacement narratives (CNTE, 2025; APRU, 2024). These efforts align with the Teacher Task Force’s call to embed the irreplaceability of teachers as a governance principle (Teacher Task Force, 2025).
- Vietnam – Law on Teachers: As Vietnam rolls out system-wide reforms, teachers are expected to take on expanded roles. The Law on Teachers is designed to support that shift, strengthening teachers’ professional status and autonomy, and positioning them at the highest public-sector salary rank. (UNESCO, 2025)
- Global – Santiago Consensus: At the World Summit on Teachers in Chile this year, governments committed to competitive salaries and realistic workloads, while advancing teachers’ AI competencies without losing the relational dimension of learning. (UNESCO, 2025)
Including teachers’ voices in policy and programme design
Recent work, including the Teacher Task Force position paper, highlights the need to place teachers’ voice, creativity, and professional judgement at the centre of decision-making. (Teacher Task Force, 2025)
- Peru – World Bank x Microsoft: The World Bank documented a people-centred approach to ensure technology empowers rather than displaces the human element in education. Focus groups with public-school teachers in Lima explored how AI could support their work, and innovative teachers were invited to co-design training materials and classroom use cases. (World Bank, 2025; Microsoft, 2025)
- Philippines – Regional consultative workshops: The Department of Education held regional consultative workshops to involve teachers in shaping policy guidelines for the use of generative AI in teaching and learning, ensuring practitioner perspectives inform national frameworks. (DepEd Region VIII, 2025)
Reflections:
- While co-designing with teachers is key to supporting teacher agency, teacher’s time needs to be remunerated and caution should be taken to not overburden them.
- As teachers contribute to developing policy, practice and products, clear feedback loops are needed to show them the integration and impact of their inputs.
- Beyond teachers, multiple stakeholder co-design with students, parents, school leaders, local government authorities, and development partners can bring in diverse perspectives and enrich the design of tools, processes and policies.
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We’d love to hear from you! What’s been shaping your thinking on AI? Drop your thoughts (and reading recommendations) in the comments. Explore more from EdTech Hub’s AI Observatory.
EdTech Hub’s AI Observatory is made possible with the support of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
