The future of teaching: (or what are we going to do with all those computational machines?)

Abstract

Teaching is a field of struggle in which ideologies and agendas compete. The crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is made worse by policies fixated on accountability. This paper argues that we need to address what has been termed teachers’ time poverty by reconsidering the quality of time teachers experience in their working day. We must understand the way workload and work intensity combine to the detriment of ‘quality’. We must also critically review the role played by technology, including emergent AI, in addressing how teachers use their time. Perspectives which prioritise efficiency can only worsen the situation. The paper concludes by restating the importance of intelligent ethical teacher professionalism.