Teachers Using AI Statistics (2026): 45+ Survey Findings
62% of US K-12 teachers have used AI to help with their work, according to an NPR/Ipsos survey from spring 2026. In England the figure is higher: 82% of primary and 78% of secondary teachers had used generative AI by December 2025 (Department for Education). Most use it to make materials and plan lessons, few have had training, and fewer than 1 in 5 US teachers work under a formal school AI policy.
Surveys measure different things, from "ever used AI for work" to "planned your last lesson with AI", so each number below names its survey, sample and date. For the student side, see our students using AI statistics.
Key statistics
62% of US K-12 teachers have used AI to help with their work (NPR/Ipsos, 545 teachers, April to May 2026).
60% of US public school teachers used an AI tool for their work in the 2024-25 school year, and 32% used it at least weekly (Gallup and Walton Family Foundation, 2,232 teachers, spring 2025).
53% of US English, math and science teachers used AI for planning or teaching in spring 2025, up from 25% the year before (RAND, 8,601 teachers).
82% of primary and 78% of secondary teachers in England had used generative AI in their role by December 2025, up from 50% of teachers in November 2024 (Department for Education).
About 1 in 3 lower-secondary teachers across OECD countries used AI in their work in 2024, from around 75% in Singapore and the UAE to under 20% in France and Japan (OECD TALIS 2024).
US teachers who use AI weekly estimate it saves them 5.9 hours a week, but averaged across all teachers the saving is 1.7 to 2.3 hours (Gallup, 2025).
In a randomised trial in England, teachers using ChatGPT with a guide spent 31% less time preparing science lessons, with no detectable drop in quality (NFER for the Education Endowment Foundation, 259 teachers, 2024).
68% of US teachers had no school or district AI training in 2024-25 (Gallup, 2025).
Only 18% of US teachers had received formal AI guidance from school administrators in 2026, and 34% had no guidance at all (Gallup, 2,069 teachers).
54% of US teachers say AI makes it harder for students to learn critical thinking, and 40% say AI's overall impact on K-12 education is negative (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
67% of secondary school leaders in England whose pupils can access generative AI have dealt with plagiarism (Department for Education, 2025).
How many teachers use AI?
Between half and four fifths of teachers in the US and England now use AI for work, depending on the survey and how the question is asked.
Share of teachers using AI, by survey (most recent edition of each)
Survey
Fieldwork
Who
Sample
What was measured
Result
NPR/Ipsos
Apr to May 2026
US K-12 teachers
545
Ever used AI for work or tasks
62%
Gallup and Walton Family Foundation
Mar to Apr 2025
US public K-12 teachers
2,232
Used AI for work in 2024-25
60%
RAND
Apr to Jun 2025
US ELA, math and science teachers
8,601
Used AI for planning or teaching
53%
DfE School and College Voice
Dec 2025
Teachers in England
991
Ever used generative AI in their role
82% primary, 78% secondary
DfE Technology in Schools
Jan to May 2025
State school teachers in England
1,211
Use generative AI at least sometimes for 5 teaching tasks
44%
OECD TALIS 2024
2024
Lower-secondary teachers, 55 systems
About 280,000
Used AI in their work in the past year
36% (OECD average)
United States
62% of US K-12 teachers said they had used AI to help with their work or tasks in spring 2026 (NPR/Ipsos, 2026, margin of error 5 points).
54% used AI at least one day a week for lesson planning or other prep and admin work, but only 23% used it during actual lessons (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
60% of US public school teachers used an AI tool for their work in 2024-25: 32% at least weekly, 28% less often and 40% not at all (Gallup and Walton Family Foundation, 2025).
RAND found 53% of English, math and science teachers used AI for instructional planning or teaching in spring 2025, against 25% the year before, but only about 13% used it at least once a week. RAND notes the question changed between years (RAND, 2025).
Teachers and students now use AI at about the same rate: 53% of teachers and 54% of students in RAND's 2025 surveys (RAND, 2025).
In fall 2023, only 18% of K-12 teachers used AI for teaching, and another 15% had tried it at least once (RAND, 2024, 1,020 teachers).
England
82% of primary and 78% of secondary teachers had used generative AI tools in their role by December 2025 (DfE School and College Voice, December 2025, 494 primary and 497 secondary teachers).
On a stricter measure, 44% of state school teachers used generative AI at least sometimes for one of five teaching tasks in 2025: 41% in primary and 46% in secondary (DfE Technology in Schools survey, 2024 to 2025).
By autumn 2024, only 1 in 3 teachers said they had never tried AI for their school work, and 34% had used a general tool such as ChatGPT in the past week (Teacher Tapp, 2025).
Education-specific AI tools lag behind: only 24% of teachers had used one of the education AI brands Teacher Tapp tracked in the previous six months (Teacher Tapp, 2025).
Use ranged from around 75% of teachers in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates to fewer than 20% in France and Japan (OECD TALIS 2024).
On average across the OECD, 53% of teachers agreed AI helps teachers write or improve lesson plans, and 45% that it helps automate admin (Singapore Ministry of Education, citing TALIS 2024).
Which teachers use AI most
High school teachers and newer teachers use AI the most. Elementary teachers use it the least.
Use of AI was heavier among US high school teachers (66%) and early-career teachers (69%) than the 60% average in 2024-25 (Gallup, 2025).
By school level, RAND found 42% of elementary, 64% of middle school and 69% of high school teachers used AI in spring 2025 (RAND, 2025).
Suburban teachers (65%) used AI more than urban (58%) or town and rural teachers (57%) (Gallup, 2025).
In England, 43% of teachers under 35 used generative AI at least sometimes for lesson planning, against 32% of those over 35 (DfE, 2025).
What teachers use AI for
Teachers mostly use AI to make materials and plan lessons. Very few use it to mark work.
Among US teachers who use AI, 69% have used it to create study guides, quizzes or classroom materials, 52% to write or plan lessons, 42% for admin, 41% to communicate with parents or write reports, 40% to create custom learning plans and only 15% to grade or give feedback (NPR/Ipsos, 2026, 339 AI users).
Across all US public school teachers, the most common monthly use was preparing to teach (37%), then making worksheets (33%), modifying materials for student needs (28%), admin work (28%), making assessments (25%) and grading (16%) (Gallup, 2025).
Among teachers in England who use generative AI, 75% of primary and 84% of secondary teachers use it to create resources, 61% and 54% to plan lessons, and 53% and 47% to adapt materials for individual pupils (DfE, December 2025).
Secondary teachers in England are far more likely to use AI for assessment, plagiarism checks, marking and feedback: 34% against 8% in primary (DfE, December 2025).
Across all state school teachers in England, 35% used generative AI at least sometimes for lesson planning, 20% for admin, 15% for written feedback, 7% to deliver a live lesson and 5% for marking (DfE, 2025).
Internationally, 64% of teachers who use AI use it to generate lesson plans and 26% to assess or grade student work (OECD TALIS 2024).
How much time does AI save teachers?
Heavy users report saving several hours a week, but the typical teacher who uses AI saves one or two hours.
US teachers who use AI weekly estimate saving 5.9 hours a week, about six weeks over a school year. Monthly users estimate 2.9 hours (Gallup, 2025). These are self-reported estimates.
Averaged across every teacher, including non-users, the saving was 2.3 hours a week at schools with an AI policy and 1.7 hours at schools without one (Gallup, 2025).
Among US teachers who use AI, 8% save more than five hours a week, 14% save three to five, 34% one to two, 29% less than an hour and 14% none (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
69% of US teachers who use AI say it has made them more productive, 29% say it has made no difference and 2% say less productive (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
In a randomised trial of 259 Year 7 and 8 science teachers in 68 schools in England, those given ChatGPT and a guide spent 56.2 minutes a week on lesson preparation against 81.5 minutes for the comparison group, 69% of the time. The evaluators found no evidence of a difference in the quality of their lesson resources (NFER for the Education Endowment Foundation, 2024).
Only 8% of US teachers who use AI save more than five hours a week. Most save two hours or less.
AI training for teachers
Most teachers who use AI taught themselves.
68% of US teachers had not taken part in any AI training from their school or district in 2024-25. More had taught themselves (52%) than had been trained by their school (31%) (Gallup, 2025).
In fall 2024, 55% of US teachers said their school or district had provided AI training or resources, and only 35% of those found it somewhat or very helpful (RAND, 2025).
44% of US teachers said their school provides AI training for teachers in spring 2026, and the same share said it provides AI software for teachers (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
In England, 21% of primary and 25% of secondary schools already offered staff training on generative AI in 2025 (DfE, 2025).
Among teachers in England who had not used generative AI, 64% said they did not know enough about how it could be used in their role (DfE, November 2024, 655 non-users).
School AI policies and guidance
Most teachers work without formal rules on AI, and use is higher where rules exist.
Only 19% of US teachers worked at a school with an AI policy in 2024-25. AI use was higher at those schools: 70% against 60% (Gallup, 2025).
In 2026, 18% of US teachers had received formal AI guidance from administrators, 48% only informal guidance and 34% none at all. 58% had no guidance on using AI for grading and feedback (Gallup, 2026, 2,069 teachers, February to March 2026).
In NPR/Ipsos's 2026 survey, 33% of teachers said their school had a formal policy on student use of AI and 23% on teacher use. 52% said their school had not offered guidance or they were not sure what it was, and 39% said their school encourages AI in the classroom (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
As of fall 2024, 34% of US teachers said their school or district had AI policies on academic integrity (RAND, 2025).
In England, only 22% of school IT leads reported a policy on the safe and appropriate use of generative AI in 2025 (DfE, 2025).
Teachers' concerns: critical thinking, cheating and detection
Teachers use AI themselves but worry about what it does to students' learning, and most don't trust detection tools to settle the question.
54% of US teachers say AI makes it harder for students to learn critical thinking skills, and 55% that AI is mostly a shortcut students use to avoid work (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
40% say AI's overall impact on K-12 education is negative, 9% positive and 49% mixed (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
59% agree AI is eroding trust between students and teachers, and 57% that it is making it harder to assess what students know (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
Because of AI, 39% of US teachers now require more work to be done by hand, and 39% more work to be done in class (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
78% agree teaching responsible AI use should be part of the curriculum, while only 20% think AI will eventually reduce the need for teachers (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
On AI detection software, 36% of US teachers find it reliable, 21% unreliable, and 42% have never used it. Among those who have, 48% don't rely on it at all to decide whether work is a student's own (NPR/Ipsos, 2026).
Across the OECD, around 7 in 10 teachers believe AI could let students pass off others' work as their own (OECD TALIS 2024).
In England, 67% of secondary leaders whose pupils can access generative AI have dealt with plagiarism, and 53% with pupils being exposed to misinformation. 73% of secondary teachers think pupils used it for homework in the past month, against 12% of primary teachers (DfE, 2025).
Attitudes have shifted since 2023, when a quarter of US teachers (25%) said AI tools do more harm than good in K-12 education and 6% said more good than harm (Pew Research Center, 2024, 2,531 teachers).
Using AI changes minds: 56% of US teachers who had used AI favoured its use in K-12, against 16% of those who had not (Gallup, 2025).
Teacher AI statistics that don't hold up
"68% of teachers use AI weekly, according to RAND (2026)." We could find no RAND study with this figure. It circulates on AI news sites that cite a vendor blog. RAND's own 2025 figure for weekly use was about 13% of English, math and science teachers, and Gallup's was 32%.
"Teachers save six hours a week with AI." Gallup's 5.9 hours applies only to teachers who use AI weekly, about a third of teachers. Averaged across all teachers it was 1.7 to 2.3 hours, and only 22% of AI users in NPR/Ipsos's 2026 survey saved three hours or more.
"Only 10% of schools have AI guidance." This comes from a UNESCO survey of about 450 schools and universities in May 2023, and the figure for schools alone was 7% (UNESCO, 2023). It is a useful baseline, not a current figure.
Methodology
We included only primary sources: survey reports and data tables published by the organisations that ran them (Gallup, RAND, Ipsos for NPR, the OECD, the UK Department for Education, Teacher Tapp, Pew Research Center and UNESCO) and one randomised trial published by NFER. Where the OECD figure came from a national ministry's TALIS release, we say so. We left out figures we could not trace to the original publisher, and any survey without a stated sample. Every number was checked against its source in October 2026. Surveys differ in country, sample and question wording, so we report each figure with its survey instead of averaging across them.
You are welcome to use these statistics in your own writing. Please credit StudyCards AI with a link to this page.
APA
Groves, C. (2026). Teachers Using AI Statistics: 45+ Survey Findings. StudyCards AI. https://studycardsai.com/blog/teachers-using-ai-statistics
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Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of teachers use AI?
Most now do. 62% of US K-12 teachers said they had used AI to help with their work in spring 2026 (NPR/Ipsos, 545 teachers), and 60% had in the 2024-25 school year (Gallup, 2,232 teachers). In England, 82% of primary and 78% of secondary teachers had used generative AI by December 2025 (Department for Education).
How many teachers use AI every week?
About a third in the US. Gallup found 32% of public school teachers used AI at least weekly in 2024-25, 28% less often and 40% not at all. In NPR/Ipsos's spring 2026 survey, 54% used AI at least one day a week for lesson planning or admin, but only 23% used it during lessons.
How much time does AI save teachers?
Less than headlines suggest. Gallup's widely quoted six weeks a year applies only to weekly users, who estimate saving 5.9 hours a week. Across all teachers the average was 1.7 to 2.3 hours. In NPR/Ipsos's 2026 survey, 77% of teachers who use AI saved two hours a week or less.
Do schools have AI policies for teachers?
Mostly not. Only 19% of US teachers worked at a school with an AI policy in 2024-25 (Gallup), and in 2026 just 18% had received formal guidance from administrators, while 34% had none at all (Gallup). In NPR/Ipsos's 2026 survey, 23% said their school had a formal policy on teacher use of AI.
What do teachers use AI for?
Mainly making materials and planning. Among US teachers who use AI, 69% have used it to create study guides, quizzes or classroom materials and 52% to write or plan lessons, but only 15% for grading (NPR/Ipsos, 2026). In England, 84% of secondary teachers who use generative AI use it to create resources (Department for Education, December 2025).