A row is brewing between teaching unions and Number 10 over the impact AI could have on jobs, Sky News has learnt.
The National Education Union (NEU), the largest teaching union in the UK, is concerned AI teaching tools could lead to some in the profession losing work, particularly lower-paid teaching assistants whose tasks could become automated.
Alarm bells were set off in January when the government announced it was giving £1m in funding to 16 tech companies to build teacher AI tools “for feedback and marking, driving high and rising education standards”.
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede told Sky News that while there were positive aspects to the rollout of AI, he felt there had “not been any meaningful discussion with the sector yet” and that the Department for Education (DfE) was “running away with itself”.
“AI can reduce workload, slash bureaucracy and there is a role to reduce admin and workload for teachers – but education and learning is ultimately a relational and social experience,” he said.
“AI can be used in a progressive way or it can be used in the way of Elon Musk,” he added, referring to the tech billionaire who is spearheading Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) to cut federal waste.
“Elon Musk says we need to gamify education – his direction of travel is no teachers, no teaching assistants.
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“The profession is sick of having things done to it from the top down, without consideration of how it affects us.
“If it is used to free up educators’ time so they can focus their time more effectively, then fair enough – but we will resist a direction of travel that seeks to de-professionalise, deskill or replace teaching assistants.”
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A DfE spokesperson rejected the NEU’s accusations, telling Sky News: “It is flat out wrong to suggest that we have not meaningfully engaged with the sector on the use of AI.
“From the initial call for evidence, through to our published policy on AI, we have communicated and engaged with the sector, and we will continue to do so as we use this great new technological era to modernise our education system, back our teachers and deliver for our children.”
The issue of AI nevertheless could pose a challenge for Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson who will have to balance the concerns of the unions alongside the government’s drive to use AI to maximise efficiency and make savings in its bid to stimulate a subdued economy.
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She has been subject to a number of hostile internal briefings suggesting her policy agenda, particularly on academies, has been driven by a desire to foster a close relationship with the unions, whose endorsement she may need in a future potential leadership bid.
The NEU has however threatened to strike over the government’s offer for a 2.8% pay rise, while it also issued a critical response to Ms Phillipson’s decision to scrap one-word Ofsted grades in favour of a colour-coded five-point scale.
An ally of Ms Phillipson described the briefings against her as “baseless and misogynistic”.
“It’s increasingly clear that they’re being made by people who are intent on attacking the prime minister by briefing against his allies,” they added.
The scale of the government’s ambition to take on the “blob” – the term used by former Tory education secretary Michael Gove to describe unions, councils and a civil service resistant to change – was made clear when Sir Keir Starmer announced NHS England would be scrapped and brought under ministers’ control in a bureaucracy crackdown.
He made the announcement in a speech heralding the benefits of AI, which he said could reform an “overstretched, unfocused” state, and deliver savings of up to £45bn.
He described AI as a “golden opportunity” to reform the state, which he said was “weaker than it has ever been -overstretched, unfocused, trying to do too much, doing it badly, unable to deliver the security that people need”.
Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle admitted the government’s efforts would mean it was “almost certain” civil service staff numbers would be slashed but that the public would appreciate a “leaner, smarter, smaller state over time”.
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Rob Poole, a teacher in the north of England who is also a member of the NEU, said large language models (LLMs) such as Chat GTP and Gemini were already being used in classrooms and help with planning lessons and assessments.
But he said that while AI was useful it could never replace the “personal connection” pupils – especially those with special needs – have with teaching assistants.
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“AI doesn’t know that pupil or their needs,” he told Sky News.
“The rollout of AI needs to be done in consultation with the unions, which is not happening at the moment,” he added.
“We are concerned about the de-skilling teachers and a lack of professional autonomy – do we need teachers at all is the next question.”
