Inspired Education Group expands ‘Inspired AI’ programme to relieve planning burden for teachers; rolls out time-saving tool

 

• Inspired Education – the leading global group of premium schools – is expanding its market-leading ‘Inspired AI’ programme with a phased roll out of a new AI platform – Lesson Planner – for teachers
• The tool will reduce the amount of time teachers are required to spend on admin by a minimum of 10 working days per year, boosting the teaching experience and delivering more time for personalised one-to-one learning
• Lesson Planner will be rolled out to all age-appropriate schools by September 2025, benefitting nearly 7,000 teachers across 80 schools in Inspired’s group

 

19th June 2024: Inspired Education Group – the leading global group of premium schools – is today expanding its market-leading ‘Inspired AI’ programme with the phased roll out of a new AI platform for teachers, Lesson Planner. The tool, a result of a multi-million-pound investment into EdTech by Inspired Education Group, will enable teachers to use AI in order to develop new and engaging lesson plans. The tool is projected to reduce planning tasks by at least 10 days of Inspired’s teachers’ time a year, allowing them to focus more on one-to-one personalised learning time with students.  

 

With a UK government-commissioned report revealing teachers estimate they still work more than seven “unnecessary hours” a week on average1, Lesson Planner – which has been specifically designed for schools – will streamline administrative and planning tasks for 7,000 teachers who are part of Inspired’s group, across 80 schools. Complementing the Government report, in a survey undertaken by 679 of Inspired’s global teachers, over half (57%) of teachers cited time as the greatest challenge when it comes to developing new and engaging lesson plans and generating and marking cycle tests for students and 81% said they believe it will save them more than 1-2 hours a week. When asked what they would do if they had more time available, 71% of teachers said they would spend more time focussing on personalised learning pathways for their students, and three quarters (75%) believed that this would help to improve outcomes or experiences for students. 

 

Lesson Planner was developed based on data collected from the schools by Inspired’s expert team. The team consists of inhouse experts and is strengthened by specialists from Faculty, the UK’s leading independent AI company. Together, the team has created a tool that is an independent AI environment which enables teachers to create text and graphics-based PowerPoint content quickly and accurately while enabling the group of globally leading teachers to learn from one another and share best-in-class materials and lesson plans.  

 

The roll out of Lesson Planner marks the latest step in the Inspired Education Group’s ‘Inspired AI’ programme, which was launched last year. Today’s announcement also follows a three-month pilot of Inspired’s supplementary AI teacher tool at King’s InterHigh, the leading online school under Inspired Education Group. It is expected the AI teacher support platform will primarily be used by teachers for engaging educational content creation, quiz question generation, and analysing student performance, as well as general administrative support. Early results have shown that the AI tool has the potential to release teachers from a minimum of two hours of administrative time, per week – or 10 days’ worth per year.  

 

Inspired’s future suite of AI tools includes automated marking and feedback for students’ weekly cycle tests, further integration of the Global Study Platform, a bespoke online platform that joins the power of data analytics with AI technology to provide students and parents subject courses information and study materials, Cycle Test results and progress reports, as well as a student’s relevant wider academic data.​ This exciting new educational technology will be used alongside Inspired’s existing Metaverse and Virtual Reality technology in classrooms.  

 

Commenting on the launch of Lesson Planner and expansion of the Inspired AI programme, Torben Lundberg, Chief Information Officer of Inspired Education Group, said: “We know that a lack of time caused by a backlog of unnecessary administration is highly frustrating for teachers. With Lesson Planner, teachers can spend more all-important, one-to-one time with students, tailoring lessons to their individual needs. Not only has this proven to increase engagement amongst students, but it’s also driving better outcomes for both pupils and teachers. These initial benefits – all with our pupils and staff right at the centre – are key and we expect there will be plenty more as the roll out continues through September 2025. 

 

“Lesson Planner is a significant step in our overall Inspired AI strategy and marks the first of many exciting developments we have planned over the next five years.” 

 

Ashley Harrold, CEO – Online of Inspired Education Group, said: “I am excited for the teachers to start using our Lesson Planner. Having been a teacher myself, I am acutely aware of just how much time goes into meticulously planning lessons which are adapted for all student abilities, so that lessons are engaging and meaningful for all. With this new tool, the time spent in planning such creative lessons will be reduced, allowing teachers to spend more of their valuable time and energy directly supporting the learning of students”.  

 

To support the success of the roll out and wider integration of Inspired AI, the schools group has also committed to delivering bespoke training to the academic staff across the 80 involved schools, teaching them how to use the new tool to the greatest effect – from learning how to write effective prompts to sharing best practice, evaluating outputs and developing specific use cases. Teachers are already positive about integrating an AI tool into their working practices, as four in five (79%) of Inspired’s teachers agree that doing so would drive greater fulfilment at work.