Teachers using ChatGPT, alongside a guide to support them to use it effectively, can reduce their lesson planning time by 31 per cent. This is according to the findings from a new trial published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) today.
The independent evaluation of the trial, led by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), investigated teachers’ use of ChatGPT during lesson and resource planning and the impact on their workload.
259 teachers in 68 secondary schools across England took part in the randomised controlled trial. Of those, 129 teachers in 34 schools were randomly allocated to use ChatGPT alongside a guide on effective implementation, to support lesson and resource preparation for their Year 7 and 8 science classes.
The guide was designed by Bain & Company’s Social Impact practice with input from a number of schools and education charities, and funded by The Hg Foundation. Most teachers in the ChatGPT group were positive about the guide, agreeing that it was easy to understand and relevant.
Generating ideas for lessons
The teachers who were allocated to use ChatGPT in the trial used it to help with tasks that included creating questions and quizzes, generating activity ideas, and tailoring existing materials to specific groups of pupils. On average, teachers used ChatGPT to support a third of their Year 7 and 8 science lessons and most commonly to plan for one activity within each lesson.