The recent article from Business Insider, titled “AI is taking white-collar jobs — here’s the data to prove it”, doesn’t pull its punches. It reveals that AI is not just nibbling at the edges of the job market, it’s actively taking big bites. Job listings that involve tasks AI can easily handle are drying up fast, and companies are openly questioning whether a new hire is needed at all when AI might suffice.
This trend is profoundly reshaping white-collar industries, but its implications for education deserve particular scrutiny, so let’s have a look at that, as it’s also the field I understand and know best. Because unlike many fields, education isn’t a monolith. Teaching five-year-olds and teaching seventeen-year-olds are fundamentally different jobs, yet both are often lumped under the same banner of “teacher.” And it’s this lack of nuance that makes the AI conversation in education both complex and urgent. Having worked in all Key Stages EYFS, KS1 up to KS4 I may also have some opinions which you’ll see sprinkled into this article.
Content-Rich, Relationship-Poor: The Vulnerability of Secondary and Higher Education
Let’s start at the top, the best paid teachers work here, the school tuition fees tend to be in the top range and, above all: the result are what counts! Ok, I may be exaggerating a bit there(or am I?) but there is truth in this. Many secondary and higher education contexts, particularly in exam-year settings like A-Levels or IB, education often becomes content-focused and data-driven. What’s the value added, how many A* students are we delivering, which Universities are they applying to and what the acceptance rate? Teachers in these years are expected to “deliver” curriculum, ensure syllabus coverage, drill exam techniques, and produce data for student performance tracking. In some schools, teachers begin to resemble academic coaches, most, if not all are subject specialists rather than holistic educators.
And this is precisely the space where AI excels. AI IS a subject specialist, especially when given the correct corpus of data to pull from.
Large Language Models (LLMs) can already explain complex academic concepts, produce past paper questions, assess essays, and even offer personalised feedback in real-time. Tools like Khanmigo, AI tutors, and automated exam prep bots are growing rapidly in sophistication and reach. NotebookLM is another power tool for revision and study, and in my humble opinion a key player in this AI race between the big 3 Edu providers (Apple, Google, Microsoft). When the core job becomes delivery of information and marking of knowledge, AI steps in comfortably.
So the question becomes: if AI can do most of what a senior school teacher does in a lecture-style or exam-focused context, what happens to those roles?
Unless schools and educators rethink what it means to be a teacher in these upper years, moving away from simply being knowledge transmitters to relationship-focused mentors, coaches, and facilitators of learning, many roles will become increasingly difficult to defend in the AI age. Not that we don’t want these roles, but it’s hard to argue for a job if that job can be done by LLMs combined with YouTube as a self study-video hosting platform. If the teacher sets revision work by sharing a 50 min lecture with his/her students, is that teacher still physically needed to be present?
The Safe Haven: Relationships, Pastoral Support, and Early Childhood Education
By contrast, in Early Years (EYFS), Key Stage 1, and even lower primary, the teacher’s role is far more multi-dimensional and deeply human. A good early years teacher isn’t just delivering letters and numbers, they’re helping children regulate emotions, resolve conflicts, develop social skills, and build resilience. They’re tuning into body language, managing sensory needs, and collaborating with families. Yes, one might argue that this can also be seen in the Upper secondary years to a degree, and that the pastoral role of a Form tutor cannot be underestimated, but I’d argue that not what the above paragraph was referring to… More on that later!
These are not just “nice-to-have” aspects of education, they are foundational.
Similarly, roles rooted in human connection, such as pastoral care, PSHE, SEN support, EAL coordination, and school counselling, are far more resistant to AI automation. While AI might assist in flagging patterns in behaviour or recommending interventions, it cannot form the trust, empathy, and emotional safety required for true transformation. This is where being human shines! Though some recent report circulating online are now showing that more and more teenagers and young adults prefer the connection with an LLM instead of a person to discuss issues or convey problems as they feel the LLM is less judgemental or wont use the information against them. So I guess for older students, they remains a ‘watch this space’
Where AI Can Truly Help: The Time Dividend
It’s important, however, not to paint AI solely as a threat. In reality, it has enormous potential to support educators. If integrated wisely.
AI can be a powerful assistant in:
- Reducing admin burden (automated registers, emails, reports)
- Generating lesson ideas, quiz content, and differentiated resources
- Marking formative assessments and giving instant feedback
- Flagging student performance trends for early intervention
- Streamlining communications with parents and caregivers
These efficiencies can lead to real time saved, but here’s where educators often diverge from the corporate world: when teachers save time, they don’t spend less energy on students. In fact, they often spend more!
Saved time is often reinvested into:
- Crafting more engaging, inquiry-led learning experiences
- Following up with individual students needing support
- Building stronger relationships with families
- Deepening their own professional development
- Refining assessment or feedback strategies
So rather than imagining AI as a way to reduce human involvement, the more optimistic (and realistic) vision is that AI allows teachers to focus on the parts of the job that matter most; the human parts. And that can directly improve student outcomes, wellbeing, and school culture.
But this only happens when schools are intentional about how AI is used. If the narrative becomes “AI can do your job, so let’s reduce staffing,” we lose the relational foundation of learning. If the narrative is “AI can help you do more of the meaningful stuff,” then we’re onto something transformational.
Do We Need to Re-school Educators?
Remember when I said above this is not about the much needed form tutors? Well let’s look at that a bit more. As AI carves a deeper niche into the educational landscape, we must ask hard questions:
Do we re-skill senior school teachers whose primary roles are now at risk of automation? i.e. Content delivery focussed Secondary teachers/lecturers
Do we reimagine the secondary school classroom as a space less about delivery and more about dialogue, debate, and development of critical thinking?
Do we re-evaluate school structures that put disproportionate weight on terminal exams and university outcomes?
The answers will vary vastly by context, but what’s increasingly clear is this: schools that treat teachers as “content vessels” are making themselves vulnerable to technological replacement. And those teachers sitting on their past experiences, thinking this will all simply be a trend or blow over, are bound to be shaken by the realities of the future! Those that see teachers as relational anchors and guides will retain the human element that AI cannot replicate.
“More humanness in this digitalness!”Rebalancing Our Value System
There is a long-standing hierarchy in education. The “top” teachers often migrate to exam years. Parents focus their attention, and anxiety, on GCSEs, A-Levels, and university placement. Budgets get prioritised for the senior years. Early Years and Primary are sometimes seen as stepping stones, with less prestige or recognition.
But if AI shifts the centre of gravity in education, this hierarchy may (and should) be turned on its head.
We may need to place greater emphasis, investment, and professional respect into Early Years and Primary settings. Not because they are trendy or new, but because they are fundamentally human! Because they cannot be automated. Because the people working in those spaces are not simply teachers, but architects of identity, belonging, and wellbeing. They are helping to develop, mould, and form little people into well-rounded, stable and effective adults of the future.
And this isn’t just true for five-year-olds. As mental health, digital wellbeing, and identity continue to be key concerns for adolescents, we need to ask: are our secondary teachers trained and supported enough to handle this shift? Do we need to invest more into these aspects of teaching, do we need more form tutors, counsellors, pastoral workers and fewer specialists? Or are we still expecting them to cary on as usual and deliver slides and mock exams while AI quietly perfects that role?
A New Era for Schools?
Schools don’t need to panic, but they do need to adapt. Here are some potential pathways forward:
1. Revaluing Early Years: Position EYFS and KS1 educators not as “introductory teachers,” but as the most foundational and future-proof parts of the system. Invest in them and their departments accordingly.
2. Rethinking Secondary Education: Train senior school teachers in relationship-based models, coaching, interdisciplinary learning, and project-based approaches. Make them mentors, not just deliverers of content. Support those willing to adapt, learn and move forward – replace those stuck in the past.
3. Redefining Curriculum Priorities: Shift focus from content mastery to meta-skills: empathy, communication, adaptability, ethical reasoning; all skills that remain uniquely human(for now).
4. Integrating AI Transparently: Use AI tools to offload administrative and repetitive tasks, not relational or human-centred ones. Be clear with staff and families about where AI fits (and doesn’t). Have your policies ready, and train staff, students, and families accordingly.
5. Professional Development for All: Whether it’s a new teacher or a head of department, all educators should be exploring how AI is reshaping pedagogy, and how their role must evolve to stay essential.
So to sum it all up: AI Won’t Replace Teachers, But It Will Replace Teaching as We Know It
The future of education isn’t about humans vs machines. It’s about clarifying what only humans can do, and doing more of it. That may mean redefining what we value, whom we promote, and how we prepare the next generation of educators.
After reading this article, why not take the self-assessment questionnaire here and find out how Future-ready you are.
Content can be streamed. Assessment can be automated. But connection? Compassion? Contextualised care?
That’s where we still matter. And that’s where the future of education must live.