A Pew Research Center study released last spring found 31% of AI experts said they expected artificial intelligence to lead to fewer jobs for teachers. Nearly a third of the experts surveyed predicted that AI will place teaching jobs “at risk” over the next 20 years, according to the Pew Research study reported on by ABC News.
Indiana’s 2024 Teacher of the Year Eric Jenkins suggests AI could end up replacing “some parts” of teaching, but as a tool — not a replacement. The Learning Policy Institute in July estimated that about one in eight teaching positions in 2025 are either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments.
Using AI to address the long-standing staffing shortage shouldn’t be considered, says Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield. “In no universe do I think that AI is going to replace a teacher,” Critchfield told ABC News.
“The teacher is the most important part and component of the classroom, but [AI] is a very useful tool in helping them provide the best educational environment that they can in the classroom,” she says.
Teachers contend they offer what AI can’t – connection.
Many districts tell ABC News that they are embracing the technology so long as it is used appropriately — by adhering to local education agency guidance — with academic integrity. Critchfield even downplays concerns that AI use in schools encourages cheating.
“Teachers can tell if you were writing like a seventh grader on Wednesday and then, all of a sudden, your paper you turn in on a Friday sounds like your post-doctorate in philosophy,” she says. “They know how to tell those differences.”
Students need connection to their peers, family and education tools such as AI chatbots more than ever following the pandemic years, says Thomas Toch, director of FutureEd, an education policy center at Georgetown University. Toch rejects the full-time use of AI in place of humans.
“The loss of that connection during the pandemic, when kids were learning virtually, created widespread mental-health challenges,” Toch told ABC News. “The notion that a machine will be the only entity that interacts with kids is problematic in that regard.”
Toch and Jenkins told ABC News they both appreciate AI for the powerful tool it can be in assisting teachers. It helps teachers plan lessons, grade students’ essays and is used as a “time saver” that helps them do their jobs better, according to Toch.
Jenkins says AI is inevitable and he believes teachers need to lean in and embrace its capabilities.
“I don’t think we can put our head in the sand about it,” Jenkins told ABC News. “I don’t think that it’s necessarily going to replace teachers because teachers can offer something that AI can’t, which is a connection, like authentic connection and community.”
Jenkins argues the chatbots lack the human element of what teachers do: making sure that students feel seen and heard. He says that is not going away.
With AI’s presence in education, Jenkins adds, “it’s going to make those moments even more important.”
Critchfield says the challenge ahead focuses on making AI seen as a tool and not a negative. “How are we preparing and training our teachers to use [AI] so that we don’t add new problems as we’re trying to solve some other problems?” Critchfield asks.
Ultimately, Critchfield says she doesn’t see AI as a boogeyman that is going to eliminate jobs, but she stresses that teachers who know AI could replace those who are less familiar with the technology.
The school district of Philadelphia is implementing AI 101 Training for its teachers, school leaders, and superintendent through a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.
“We’re not hiding from AI,” says one district leader. “We’re also thinking about its implications and we’re really paying attention to what the prospective unintended consequences could be as well.”
ABC News
