Best Practice

AI in your classroom: Tips, tools and ideas for teachers

Artificial intelligence Edtech Lesson planning Quality First Teaching Teaching resources
The use of artificial intelligence in schools is expanding rapidly. Ben Merritt offers teachers some easy ideas for using AI in the classroom, including tool recommendations and actionable strategies for planning lessons and creating resources
Catching up: Research suggests that 42% of teachers are regularly using AI in their role, compared to 79% of secondary students who regularly use AI

AI is reshaping classrooms, but not in the distant, utopian way you might imagine. Instead, it is here, now, and its potential is immense. If, that is, you learn how to use it properly.

The use of AI by teachers seems to be quietly dripping into classrooms and staffrooms across the country. But generative AI is such a youthful, dynamic area, that we are still learning how much teachers are using it exactly.

Research from the Department for Education (2024) suggests that in 2023 42% of teachers in UK schools were regularly using AI in their role, mostly for creating resources and planning lessons. However, students have sprinted ahead. The same research reports that 79% of secondary students regularly use AI.

My own recent survey of around 600 students at my school – King Ecgbert School, part of Mercia Learning Trust – suggests that the figure in 2025 is probably higher.

We also know that the Joint Council for Qualifications supports the use of AI in certain situations (JCQ, 2023) and that Ofsted supports school staff using AI “where it improves the care and education of children” (Ofsted, 2024).

So in this article, I want to show you how quick and easy it is to use AI to redistribute your workload, create bespoke lessons in seconds, and amplify inclusivity.

AI can help you create text, images, videos and even music in seconds. Let’s look at some actionable strategies and explore some of the risks with open eyes and get equipped to navigate this brave new world.

I would also urge you to listen to a recent episode of the SecEd Podcast (2025) in which we discussed AI in schools – both the opportunities and risks. You can find this recording here.

 

A quick win to get started

Think of a specific approaching lesson and head to OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini (all the tools I cite in this article are linked at the end). Now, adapt this prompt to make it relevant to you:

Acting as an expert educational professional in a UK secondary school, create a 1-hour lesson to introduce 14-year-old students in a UK secondary school to the concept of photosynthesis. The lesson must be well-structured and pedagogically sound. It must include suitable differentiation, a topic vocabulary list, a real-world application section, and a suitable homework task.

The result (you can find mine here) will be infinitely better than using the prompt “plan a lesson about photosynthesis” because of the detail and framing of the prompt.

Prompt engineering – as it has come to be known – is crucial. So before we go any further, let me outline my three golden rules of AI content creation, which I have nicknamed the “PEG” approach.

  • Precise: As you can see in the example above, precise, detailed prompts can turn vague, time-wasting outputs into engaging, time-saving resources. Remember, too, that ChatGPT is exactly that – a chat; do not settle for your first result, but refine it for the very best outcome.
  • Ethical: AI-generated content can be biased, inappropriate, or factually incorrect – sometimes all three. For reasons of veracity, cross-checking and lateral reading is crucial. As I wrote in my last SecEd article about AI, diversity and inclusive resources, we also have a moral duty to create diverse content. No matter how many AI tools you use or how much AI-generated information you select, you remain responsible for the content you disseminate. Transparency is key when acknowledging your source material.
  • Guarded: Most AI tools store personal information and data. Submitting identifiable details about you or anyone else renders them out of your control and at the mercy of the AI tool’s data policy – if indeed it even has one. You can often still get your desired result after anonymising details or even inventing fictitious ones.

 

Ideas for using specific AI tools

Tools: ChatGPT & Gemini

As well as lesson plans, ChatGPT and Gemini do a great job of giving you inspiration for any task which requires written text, including writing a statement of intent for your faculty, writing a job specification for an advert, writing to parents, writing copy for social media or websites, and creating video scripts.

Both tools also work with uploaded files and can even output your request to a program like Microsoft Word (or, in Gemini’s case, Google Docs).

Try prompting it to create a scheme of work table or to turn a screenshot of a list of items into a spreadsheet formatted according to your exact requirements.

There are continual improvements with how these tools can be used to mark and feedback on students’ work, too. This is certainly an area where we must exercise extreme caution with what is produced, but it is exciting to be able to upload images of (anonymised) student work, feed in a mark scheme, then ask the tool to transcribe the work, highlight the errors, correct the errors, mark the work according to the given mark scheme, and even provide feedback to the student based on precise errors made in relation to the mark scheme.

It even does a pretty good job of project-managing tasks. Once my form had settled on conducting a charity bake sale, we used ChatGPT to give us a timeline of events to make sure the project ran smoothly.

Remember: it is not just about creation. These text-generation tools are also fantastic at manipulating texts you have already found or created previously. For example, if you need to adjust that parent email so that it comes across less passive-aggressive and more supportive and understanding; if you need a text message simplifying or translating – it is easy to adjust the tone, style and language of any written work.

 

Tools: ChatPDF

We have all experienced that sinking feeling of opening a PDF to find 158 pages. ChatPDF creates a mini-ChatGPT environment based only on your uploaded document, so that you can chat with the PDF and ask for a summary of the information or for a list of five takeaways, for example. If your subject area works with anything like word mats, sentence builders, knowledge organisers, or revision guides, then you might also use ChatPDF to create assessment questions (and answers) based on your source file.

 

Tools: ChatGPT & Gemini

Creating worksheets is a breeze, but ensure you include phrases like “well-structured”, “pedagogically-sound”, “which get progressively harder”, and “differentiated with support and extensions”.

Remember to add “output this to a Microsoft Word file” so that your resource is ready to go (after thorough checking).

Comprehension texts are handled quickly and easily and work really well when you plumb in your subject-specific topic keywords or phonemes.

All this newly created text can be simplified (try “for someone with a reading age of X” for accuracy), differentiated, translated and clarified with a simple command.

Also, you do not have to shell out on expensive, bespoke AI-powered tutors for ad hoc personalised learning. At my school, we have had great success – particularly with EAL students – when we have asked ChatGPT to “act as an outstanding English tutor” to personally guide students through challenging concepts. Often, students are more at ease admitting their learning gaps with a chatbot, it seems.

 

Tools: Curipod & Gamma

AI-generated slideshow tools like these two offer immediate benefits for teachers, enabling you to create PowerPoints quickly for any lesson. Students can also create bespoke revision presentations for themselves.

Ask for a slide deck with worked examples, questions to check comprehension, and real-world applications to gain informative, instructional slideshows in seconds. In the case of Curipod, these come complete with PINs for your audience to join in interactively for live assessment for learning.

 

Tools: NotebookLM

This incredibly powerful tool by Google lets you upload up to 50 different documents – pdfs, web addresses (including YouTube links), audio files or even just manually typed text – and lets you work with them concurrently.

From your source(s) you can create study guides, briefings and FAQs, but the most fun comes from the “deep dive conversation” which is essentially an AI-generated podcast. The fluidity and fluency of the two “hosts” will astound you. This is a must for older students – imagine being able to convert pages of a revision guide into an informal audio chat.

 

Tools: Suno & Udio

Songs, even naff ones, have an educational power to help students remember key dates, definitions, characters, lists and more. These tools create songs based on your well-crafted prompts, in any style you choose, to help embed those slippery facts in your students’ minds.

 

Tools: Bing Image Creator & Ideogram

Have you ever spent far too much time poring over Google images trying to find that perfect picture for your document or resource? AI-generated images can save you a lot of time and effort by allowing you to describe what you need. You could allow AI to generate bespoke artwork for your students’ creative writing, or use it to illustrate complicated concepts for more visual learners.

It is also an easy way to make your resources more relatable. One easy win is to create resources showing images of young people wearing your school’s uniform to enable students to see the connection between themselves and what they are learning. This is also one of the most obvious ways we can create more representative resources by specifying pictures of people of different ages and backgrounds, for example.

 

Tools: MagicSchool & TeachMateAI

AI tools have quickly evolved from generic platforms, like ChatGPT or Gemini, to specialised solutions tailored to specific sectors. These two are shining examples for education, and include a variety of tools to streamline workflows and spark creativity. It is worth exploring what they offer for free, and I will draw your attention to just one: MagicSchool’s “YouTube Video Questions” tool. Select a few details about your class, paste in a YouTube video link, and this tool will generate a comprehension sheet for any YouTube video for your students to fill in while they are watching the clip.

 

Tools: Aila

The AI tool from the Oak National Academy is one to watch. Simply tell it what you want to teach and Aila will guide you through a series of assumptions about the learning outcomes, prior knowledge, misconceptions and keywords – all of which you can amend as necessary. It will then create an entire lesson: the lesson plan, a starter quiz, a presentation, a worksheet, and an exit quiz.

 

We must not forget the risks

As with anything technology-related, there are risks that we must understand and mitigate against.

Indeed, as a society we have to ensure that AI enriches rather than erodes our craft and we must manage the known ethical and environmental issues.

Remembering my PEG approach will help you to avoid these pitfalls and have a safe, productive and ethical experience when using AI in your educational role. Remember also:

  • AI tools can be confidently wrong: As we discussed on the recent episode of the SecEd Podcast focused on AI in schools, always verify the content before relying on it and view AI as one of several tools in your toolkit.
  • AI tools store personal data: Remember your GDPR and wider data responsibilities. Never submit identifiable details – about you or anyone else – and ensure that you are using platforms with clear, responsible data policies. If in doubt, leave it out.
  • AI-generated content can be used to trick and offend: Report any harmful content and ensure your usage is ethical.
  • AI-use can lead to students relying on it too much: Tackle AI usage head-on in your school and train students about the risks and how to use it responsibly. Encourage strong oracy in the classroom, because the future looks to be centred around how well humans can verbally convey their thoughts and feelings, rather than on the standard and speed of prose they can produce.
  • AI tools usually have age restrictions: Always check age recommendations and content restrictions before introducing AI tools to students so that they are less likely to be exposed to inappropriate content or interactions.
  • AI tools reinforce harmful biases: Because AI systems can reflect and reinforce existing societal biases, it is vital to monitor and mitigate bias. Ensure the content you create is inclusive and fair for all. Again, see my previous SecEd article on this issue.

 

Final thoughts

The question is not whether AI will reshape education, rather how we, the education professionals, will shape how AI will transform teaching and learning. Embrace its potential, challenge its flaws, and use it to amplify what we do best – inspire, guide, and empower the next generation.

  • Ben Merritt is head of modern foreign languages at King Ecgbert School, part of Mercia Learning Trust. He offers CPD to schools on using AI in education. Email him via cpdinsights@gmail.com. Find his previous articles and podcast appearances for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/ben-merritt 

 

AI tools cited in this article

References