3 in 4 Singapore teachers use AI, more than double overseas peers: OECD survey

Teachers in Singapore are among the world’s most active users of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, with 75 per cent of them using it to teach or support student learning.

- Gabrielle Chan

This is more than double the 36 per cent among overseas counterparts who do so, according to the results of a new global teaching survey released on Oct 7.

Singapore teachers also see that Al has benefits: 82 per cent agree that using such tools helps them formulate or improve their lesson plans, and 74 per cent agree that AI can automate administrative tasks.

Overall, the findings from the latest Teaching and Learning International Survey (Talis) showed that teachers here are highly responsive to digital technologies, and are among the highest adopters of Al, but also the most wary of errors from it.

The survey of teachers across the world was conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to help countries review policies to improve their teaching profession.

The report provides information on teacher education and professional development, workload, instructional beliefs and teaching practices.

Around 3,500 teachers and principals across Singapore's 145 secondary schools and 10 private secondary schools, were polled from April to August 2024. Overall, 194,000 teachers across 55 education systems took part in the survey.

This is Singapore's third time taking part in the survey, after rounds in 2013 and 2018. The survey was previously conducted every five years and, now, every six.

The latest edition is the first to examine teachers' use of AI in teaching and learning, as well as their adoption of online and hybrid teaching methods.

Teachers in Singapore use AI most often to efficiently learn about and summarise topics (77 per cent), generate student feedback or communication with parents (69 per cent), and create lesson plans or activities (65 per cent), the study found.