Using AI in the classroom safely: a practical guide for teachers

AI tools are already part of many teachers' working week, for drafting resources, adapting texts and generating ideas. Used well, they save time. Used carelessly, they can put pupil data at risk, spread mistakes or undermine trust.

This guide sets out six practical rules for using AI safely, for your own planning and with pupils.

1. Start with your school's policy

Before using any AI tool for school work, find out what your school or trust allows. Many schools now have an AI policy that covers:

• which tools staff and pupils may use
• what information can and can't be entered
• how AI use should be acknowledged
• rules for pupils' coursework and homework

If your school doesn't have a policy yet, ask your leadership team or data protection lead before using AI with anything beyond general, non-personal content. Useful starting points for policy are the UK Department for Education's policy paper on generative AI in education and UNESCO's guidance for generative AI in education and research.

2. Keep personal data out

The simplest and most important rule: don't put personal information about pupils into AI tools unless your school has approved the tool for that use. That includes:

• names and photos
• dates of birth, addresses and contact details
• grades, reports and assessment data linked to a named pupil
• information about special educational needs, health, behaviour or family circumstances

What you type into an AI tool may be stored, and in some services it may be used to improve the model. Even "anonymised" details can identify a pupil when combined. When planning, you rarely need personal data anyway: "a Year 6 class with several pupils learning English" gives an AI tool everything it needs.

Lesson Dino is designed this way: it only needs the subject, the year group and the topic. You never need to type pupils' names or personal details.

3. Check everything before pupils see it

AI can produce fluent text that is wrong, out of date, biased or simply not right for your class. Treat AI output like a resource from an unknown website: useful, but not trusted until checked.

Our checklist for AI-made teaching materials covers what to look at: facts and sources, age level, misconceptions, pictures, worksheet answers, bias and timings.

4. Stay the teacher

AI can draft a lesson; it doesn't know your pupils. You know who struggled last week, who needs a challenge, which examples will land and which won't. Use AI for the parts it's good at, such as first drafts, alternative explanations and question banks, and keep the decisions about what and how to teach.

That also means being careful about using AI for judgements about individual pupils, such as marking work that counts towards grades or writing reports, unless your school has clear rules and checks in place.

5. Teach pupils to use AI honestly

Pupils are using AI whether or not schools teach them about it. Helping them use it well is part of preparing them for the world they're growing up in. Consider:

• Be clear about the rules. For each task, say whether AI is allowed, and if so, how. "You may use AI to check your spelling but not to write paragraphs" is clearer than a general ban.
• Teach how it works. AI predicts likely text; it can be wrong; it can reflect bias in its training data.
• Teach checking. Pupils should compare AI answers with reliable sources, just as you do.
• Ask for the process, not just the product. Plans, drafts, class work and short oral explanations show pupils' own thinking.
• Check age limits. Many AI services set minimum ages in their terms, and UNESCO's guidance suggests a minimum age of 13 for using generative AI tools in the classroom.

6. Think about fairness and wellbeing

• Access: not every pupil has AI tools or a device at home. Avoid homework that depends on them unless the school provides access.
• Bias: AI can reproduce stereotypes. Look at examples, names and pictures with a critical eye.
• Over-reliance: pupils still need to practise thinking, writing and problem-solving themselves. AI should support that effort, not replace it.

A quick summary

When AI is used this way, as a careful assistant rather than an authority, it can give teachers back time for the parts of the job that matter most. If you want to try that with lesson planning, our guide to using an AI lesson plan generator is a good next step.