Schools are being invited to take part in a new trial to assess whether AI-powered lesson planning can reduce teacher workload while also maintaining quality.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) will fund a randomised-controlled trial (RCT) of Aila, the Oak National Academy’s AI lesson planning assistant.
Around 450 key stage two teachers from 86 primary schools are sought for the study.
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Some will be asked to use Aila for planning their lessons across all subjects. The others will continue with their usual lesson planning practices.
The trial, independently evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), will measure teacher workload based on average time spent on planning over one term.
Meanwhile lesson quality will be assessed by an independent panel, who will not be told if AI was used to create plans.
Emily Yeomans, co-CEO of the EEF, said the trial was an “exciting opportunity to explore if generative AI tools like Aila can genuinely reduce workload without compromising the quality of teaching.
“As interest in AI continues to grow, it’s vital that we continue to build a clear and rigorous evidence base to guide how it’s used in classrooms.”
The results will be published in autumn 2026. The evaluation will also look at how Aila was used in practice, through teacher surveys, interviews, case studies and usage data – identifying what “enables or hinders effective use”.
John Roberts, Interim CEO of Oak National Academy, said lesson preparation is “one of the heftier tasks” teachers have to deal with and Aila was “purpose built by a team of expert teachers and engineers to help tackle this challenge”.
“AI has real potential to support in this area. But we only save teachers time if what it produces is reliable, safe and high-quality.”
The tool was first launched in September 2024. It helps teachers save time by supporting them to produce personalised lesson plans, alongside teacher slides, pupil quizzes and worksheets. Examples include tailoring a geography lesson to a local landmark, amending reading difficulty according to pupil need, and adding extra activities to resources.
Teachers have raised concerns about the accuracy, bias and safety of using AI in the classroom. But Oak said Aila was based on its “curriculum principles”.
Previous research conducted by Oak National Academy found it helped teachers save three-and-a-half hours per week lesson planning.
Meanwhile, an earlier EEF-funded trial found that teachers using ChatGPT could reduce their lesson planning time by 31 per cent.
Previously, Oak National Academy was given £2 million to fund its AI work, on top of the £43 million for its curriculum development.
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