‘They want You to Read Their Work’: Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives on the Use of AI for School Feedback
Open Access
- 14 October 2025
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Technology, Knowledge and Learning
- Vol. 30 (4) , 1917-1941
Abstract
Providing feedback is time-consuming for teachers, but new Artificial Intelligence tools aim to reduce this burden and improve feedback quality. We asked teachers ( N = 12) to trial an AI tool for providing feedback on students’ work. In semi-structured interviews they reflected on the positive and negative implications of such tools. In focus groups, secondary school students ( N = 9) also shared their views on the use of AI feedback tools. Results showed that teachers believed AI tools could save time and reduce subjectivity in the feedback process. However, they also shared concerns about these tools’ potential impact on teacher-student relationships, their ability to meet individual students’ needs, and a potential deskilling of the teaching workforce. Many of these views were largely echoed by students in our sample. We conclude that AI tools for feedback are promising but need further development, and should include teachers’ and students’ voices as key to this work.Keywords
Funding Information
- Department for Education
This publication has 69 references indexed in Scilit:
- An Empathy Intervention Reduces the Gender Gap in School Discipline and Facilitates BelongingEuropean Journal of Social Psychology, 2025
- Quality and quantity: How contexts influence the emergence of teacher biasSocial Psychology of Education, 2024
- Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence as a Tool to Support their Practice in Estonian K-12 EducationInternational Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 2022
- The Promises and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence for Teachers: a Systematic Review of ResearchTechTrends, 2022
- Artificial intelligence in education: Addressing ethical challenges in K-12 settingsAI and Ethics, 2021
- Can AI be racist? Color‐evasiveness in the application of machine learning to science assessmentsScience Education, 2021
- Out of the laboratory and into the classroom: the future of artificial intelligence in educationAI & SOCIETY, 2020
- Why leave the teaching profession? A longitudinal approach to the prevalence and persistence of teacher turnover intentionsSocial Psychology of Education, 2020
- AI and education: the importance of teacher and student relationsAI & SOCIETY, 2017
- Teacher Wellbeing: The Importance of Teacher–Student RelationshipsEducational Psychology Review, 2011