EEF invites schools to partake in AI lesson planning trial

The Education Endowment Foundation has invited primary schools across England to join a new randomised controlled trial of AI-powered lesson planning assistant Aila to find out whether AI can reduce lesson planning time while maintaining the quality of resources.

Launched in September 2024, Aila aims to help save teachers time by supporting them to produce personalised lesson plans and teaching resources. Teachers can tailor materials to meet the needs of their pupils – for example, by adapting content for different literacy levels, or incorporating local examples.

The new trial, which is expected to report in autumn 2026, will add to the emerging global evidence base on the impact and use of AI in teaching and learning. 

It follows an earlier EEF-funded trial, which found that teachers using ChatGPT could reduce their lesson planning time by 31%. While promising, that report also highlighted the need for more research into how AI tools can support teachers without lowering quality.

NFER is now recruiting around 450 Key Stage 2 teachers from 86 primary schools. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: one will be asked to use Aila for planning their lessons across all subjects, while the other will continue with their usual lesson planning practices. 

The evaluation will examine teacher workload by measuring the average time spent on planning over the course of a term. It will also assess lesson quality through an independent panel review, with reviewers unaware of whether Aila was used in the lesson preparation.

Emily Yeomans, co-CEO at The Education Endowment Foundation, said: “Our latest trial is 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.”

John Roberts, Interim CEO of Oak National Academy, added: “At Oak National Academy, our work is all about supporting teachers. We know that workload is a challenge for them, and that lesson preparation is one of the heftier tasks on their to-do lists. 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.

“Aila, our AI-powered lesson assistant, was purpose built by a team of expert teachers and engineers to help tackle this challenge. We’re really excited to put Aila to the test in this EEF trial, and learn what’s working and what could make it even more impactful for our teachers.”