What teachers are telling us about AI in education
At EdTech Hub’s AI Observatory, we are creating a space where teachers in low- and middle-income countries can shape how AI is used in education. Our goal is not only to amplify their experiences, concerns, and hopes, but to turn them into action.
Through our Teacher-in-the-Loop survey, we asked teachers for their views on AI in education, and more than 800 responded from 29 countries, including 15 low- and-middle income countries. They ranged from early adopters to the AI-curious and those just starting to explore what’s possible. What stood out most was not just what teachers need, but the role they want to play. Of the survey respondents, 81% said they would be interested in being part of a group that gives feedback on or helps design new AI tools for teachers. This is a clear signal that teachers want to be part of shaping the future, not just being trained to use tools that were created without them.
Methodology used for the survey
We ran a pulse survey to generate directional insights into where energy and curiosity about AI currently sits, rather than to secure a statistically representative sample. The survey was open to any teacher, and both shared online and through snowball sampling via global and national teacher organisations, who then cascaded it through their networks.
As a result, respondents tended to be teachers already interested in AI or experimenting with it. This was intentional: early adopters often provide timely signals about how new technologies spread, offering early insights into emerging opportunities and challenges (Rogers, E. M. 1962).
We are also conducting focus groups to hear more from non-AI users and teachers with lower levels of digital access to deepen our understanding of teachers’ motivations and concerns, and we will continue to share our findings along the way.
Teachers are more than data points
Teachers are users, innovators, and professionals with needs, constraints, and ambitions that deserve to shape how education systems evolve. Educators hold deep knowledge about how learning actually happens, understand the rhythms of classrooms, and navigate pressures like limited time and diverse student needs. Teachers’ experience connects policy, technology, and reality in ways few others can.
What we heard when we listened: Teachers’ top unmet needs
Across the survey responses, several unmet needs appeared consistently. The following reflect the themes most commonly referenced by teachers in our sample. These aren’t simply problems for someone else to try to fix, they’re areas where teachers’ collective intelligence could guide what happens next.
1. Teachers want to ensure AI makes them more efficient AND effective
Teachers expressed strong interest in AI’s potential to reduce workload but they also imagine a deeper role for it as a tool that strengthens teaching and supports professional growth. This balance between efficiency and empowerment is a key territory for co-design. AI can become a partner tool in learning, not just a shortcut for tasks.
2. Teachers want a clear plan to mitigate potential harms of AI
Many teachers are concerned about the possible negative impact of AI on students’ cognitive skills and critical thinking. Through the survey, 42% of teachers who cited a problem or worry mentioned this, and 55% of those who cited a fear raised this concern. Teachers can help define where AI adds value to learning and where it risks dulling curiosity or reasoning skills. Their classroom experience provides guidance for evidence-informed dialogue on what meaningful learning looks like in an AI-rich world.
3. Teachers want practical resources and enabling environments to support their AI use
AI is already part of teachers’ practice: 82% of respondents report using AI in teaching or in their school. Half try new AI tools as soon as they hear about them, and almost as many want to “move faster” on AI. Yet formal guidance is often missing.
Teachers need practical support and space to experiment with AI in practice. Teachers emphasised hands-on training during school hours rather than after-hours webinars or self-study.
As one teacher said in an interview, “I can’t learn AI at 10 p.m. after correcting papers. Teach me when I still have energy to listen.”
Another added, “If someone showed me how to use it in a real lesson just once, I’d try it the next day.” While these survey findings offer useful early signals, they are only a snapshot. To design AI that genuinely works for teachers, we believe that implementation must engage teachers directly through user-centred design and iterative, classroom-based testing.
We turned the insights from this survey into a chatbot so you can hear from the teachers yourself.
Teachers are ready
The future of AI in education will be determined less by what algorithms can do and more by how humans choose to use them. And that choice starts with teachers who are heard, trusted, and empowered to shape what comes next. By moving from surveys to dialogue and co-design, we can ensure AI supports teachers and students in ways that are practical, ethical, and equitable. For teachers in our sample, the real frontier is not technological capability but practical usability—what actually works in the classroom.
With AI Observatory’s Teachers-in-the-Lead Sandboxes, we are testing the hypothesis that: if teachers are meaningfully engaged in shaping whether and how AI is used across education systems from policy to practice, we can unlock more learning.
Over the next four months, we will be working with Taleemabad in Pakistan, Rising Academies in Rwanda and the Aga Khan Foundation in Tanzania. These three organisations are already driving education innovation, are already working closely with teachers, and already exploring what’s possible with AI. Our aim is to generate practical evidence about what it takes to design AI tools that genuinely meet the needs of teachers.
Insights from these sandboxes will inform actionable recommendations for AI developers and implementing partners on how to design tools that work for teachers, that in turn improve the quality of teaching and strengthen learning outcomes.
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.
