How can teachers use AI to save time?
Use AI for first drafts you will check: lesson outlines, differentiated worksheets, quiz questions, parent letters and rubric wording. In a 2025 Gallup survey, US teachers who used AI weekly estimated they saved 5.9 hours a week. Keep student names and personal data out of general-purpose tools.
Teachers save the most time with AI by using it for first drafts of the materials they already make: lesson outlines, worksheets at three levels, quiz questions, parent emails and display text. You stay the editor. The AI does the blank-page part.
The time saved is real. In the Gallup and Walton Family Foundation survey of 2,232 US public school teachers (Gallup, 2025), teachers who used AI at least weekly estimated they saved 5.9 hours a week, about six weeks over a school year. Lesson preparation, worksheets and adapting materials for different students were the most common uses.
Where AI saves the most time
| Task | Example prompt | What you still check |
|---|---|---|
| Lesson outline | "Outline a 45-minute grade 4 lesson on the water cycle with a hook, a hands-on activity and an exit ticket." | Fit with your curriculum and class |
| Differentiation | "Rewrite this paragraph at three reading levels: grade 2, grade 4 and grade 6." | Accuracy and tone |
| Quiz questions | "Write 10 multiple-choice questions on fractions with one plausible wrong answer each." | Correct answers |
| Parent communication | "Draft a friendly, 120-word note to parents about next week's field trip." | Dates, names, school voice |
| Rubrics | "Turn these three success criteria into a four-level rubric in child-friendly language." | Alignment with your marking |
| Ideas | "Give me five ways to practise times tables without worksheets." | Practicality for your room |
Prompts work better with context
- State the age or grade, the subject and the time available.
- Paste your own success criteria or curriculum objective.
- Ask for a specific format (table, bullet list, 100 words).
- Ask follow-ups: "Make the activity work for a class of 30 with no devices."
What to keep out of AI tools
The UK Department for Education's guidance on generative AI in education recommends that personal data is not used in generative AI tools, and that anything entered should not allow an individual to be identified. In practice:
- No student names, photos, grades, health or SEN information in consumer chatbots.
- Use only the AI tools your school or district has approved, especially for anything involving students.
- Check facts. AI can invent references, dates and numbers.
Where AI does not save time
- Marking high-stakes work. It needs careful checking and raises privacy questions; see Can teachers use ChatGPT to grade student work?.
- Resources that need deep subject accuracy, where checking takes longer than writing.
- Anything relational: difficult parent conversations and pastoral notes still need your voice.
Start small
Pick one recurring weekly task, such as differentiated reading passages, and use AI for it for a month. Keep a rough note of minutes saved. That gives you a real answer for your own workload rather than a survey average. For a review of specific tools, see AI tools for teachers in 2026.
Bring safe AI into your classroom
Askie for Schools brings a safe, age-appropriate AI learning companion to your students, managed from your teacher account.