Could AI Drive Down Workload and Boost Wellbeing?

By The National College, BSME Partner

This article was featured in the BSME Newsletter 2025-26 | Read the Full Newsletter Here

Most recent Department for Education data shows average weekly working hours continuing to rise, with leaders working 57.4 hours and teachers working 49.4 hours per week. While this is generally slightly lower in most international schools, workload remains a major issue which has knock-on effects for retention, whole school wellbeing and much more.

While there is no magic wand to solve this issue, there are hopes among certain areas of the sector that the implementation of AI could be a major factor in reducing teacher workload. In a recent TeacherTapp survey, 54% of teachers surveyed said they had used AI in the last week to support with school work.

This year we’ve also seen the Department for Education encourage the use of AI by saying in a policy paper; “AI has the power to transform education by helping teachers focus on what they do best: teaching.”

However, AI is not without risks. Data protection, safeguarding and the accuracy and quality of some answers are persistent concerns.

This is where Teacher & Leader AI from The National College can be helpful - sitting within a secure and GDPR-compliant platform it is one of the safest AI platforms available.

The AI tools have been built by educators and it sources answers from informed, accurate locations including the Department for Education, Ofsted, school data and the National College's expert-led content itself. Meaning teaching staff can trust the answers they receive and that any data shared is not being passed on or seen anywhere else.

Teacher & Leader AI is free for all members to access and new members can get instant access too. Read more about the tools here.