Duncan Verry
Bett Portfolio Director
Three years ago, AI was still an experiment in many UK schools. Today, it has become part of the working week. So why aren’t teachers working fewer hours?
For the third consecutive year, Bett has asked UK teachers how they are using AI, how they feel about it and what impact it is having on their working lives. With three years of research now to draw on, we can see something more revealing than a snapshot: how teachers’ relationship with AI is changing.
AI eases tasks, not workload
Bett’s latest report, AI in Education 2026: Working it out, based on research conducted by YouGov among 1,033 UK teachers, reveals that eight in 10 now use AI for teaching-related tasks, while weekly use has doubled in just 12 months. Yet, as adoption has accelerated, expectations appear to be becoming more measured.
Among teachers using AI, 51% say it has eased their workload. Yet, only 35% say they actually work fewer hours. More than half continue to work the same hours as before. In other words, AI may be making individual tasks quicker, but it hasn’t necessarily made the working week shorter. That distinction matters.
AI enthusiasm and support decline
As schools, policymakers and technology providers explore AI’s potential to tackle workload, Bett’s research suggests the conversation needs to move beyond simply asking whether teachers are using the technology. We need to ask what meaningful impact it is having once it reaches the classroom.
There are signs that teachers are asking the same questions. Fewer than half now expect to increase their use of AI over the next year, falling from 68% in 2025 to 47% in 2026. Meanwhile, 41% have received no AI training from their school, and almost half say their school has no written policy governing staff use.
We need to ask what meaningful impact it is having once it reaches the classroom
The challenge facing pupils
Most secondary teachers believe AI has made it easier for students to cheat without being caught, while 57% suspected at least one pupil of submitting unauthorised AI-assisted work.
The picture emerging isn’t one of teachers rejecting AI. Far from it; it’s one of a profession becoming more pragmatic about what the technology can and cannot do. Three years into Bett’s research, the question is shifting from ‘Will teachers use AI?’ to something far more important: ‘How do we make its use genuinely worthwhile?’
Explore the findings, challenges and opportunities shaping the next chapter of AI in education in Bett’s new AI in Education 2026: Working it out report. Download the report: tinyurl.com/4knnxea2
