“Will AI replace Teachers?” — Views from Finland
Written by Mr Lauri HELLSTEN
This article is part of a series on the topic “Will AI replace Teachers?” written by the participant teachers of the #ASEFClassNet15 Conference, from 51 #ASEM countries. Check out the introduction essay here! Find more information about the conference here!
One has always tried to predict the future, the development of new technology, and progression within our societies. The only thing we can be sure of is that change is inevitable, and there will always be uncertainty, be it in the present or the future. In 1910, French artist Villemard painted a picture predicting a scene in the future classroom, a humorous sight showcasing a very narrow view of teaching, as a form of transferring information from the books to the students’ minds.
Is teaching just about transfer of knowledge? One could argue to a point that students need to understand and memorise basic concepts before developing higher order thinking skills (analysing, applying, creating, etc.) opening up a space in addressing the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Previous research studies suggest that individual tutoring-based solutions raise the students’ performance relative to a baseline class by two standard deviations (Bloom, 1984).
AI can be used as an individual tutor in the memorising and understanding process, that then provides feedback to students, assigns tasks according to their respective zones of proximal development (Vygotsky) and scaffolds them in their learning, giving them continuous formative assessments to improve their knowledge on a specific subject.
Will AI replace teachers in the future? I would say that a teacher cannot be replaced by technology and its infrastructure. We should keep in mind that the role of a teacher has changed quite a lot in the last years from a distributor of information to a facilitator who creates a safe and valued learning environment for students. In addition, a skilled teacher can guide students in a way that helps them to practice their higher order thinking skills (HOT) and help them develop their metacognitive skills through e.g. self-assessments. Only a teacher can ensure human interaction in a classroom. The presence of a teacher in person helps students build a sense of importance when sharing their opinions and teaches them about valuing one another. Most often a teacher is one adult in a student’s life who always supports and helps his or her students to grow and find their own passions.
I would argue that in the future human interactions, higher order thinking skills and skills that cannot be taught by a machine will become increasingly valuable. For example, how could a machine teach empathy? Grit? Courage? Self-esteem? Motivation? Improvisation? Creativity? I believe that these skills will be required even more so than any other skill, to equip students in dealing with problems, threats, solutions and decision making, skills that computers can’t replace. In conclusion, a teacher cannot be replaced by AI!
About the author:
Mr Lauri HELLSTEN, Teacher and ICT Coordinator, Espoon yhteislyseo Lauri works at the Upper Secondary School of Espoon Yhteislyseo, where he teaches Mathematics, Physics and ICT. He also works at the University of Helsinki in in-service teacher training and training teacher students. He has provided trainings in performing assessments, the Finnish curriculum, applying ICT in education (especially in STEM subjects) and the use of different student-oriented teaching methods, e.g. flipped learning. He has published over 10 textbooks for teachers and upper secondary school students, and has been awarded by the Finnish Centre of STEM Education (LUMA-keskus) in 2016 for his work regarding STEM teaching in Finland as well as by the Technology Industries of Finland in 2019. Lauri is an alumnus of the ASEF ClassNet.
NOTE:
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely by the author(s) and do not represent that of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).
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