Planning with AI Without Losing Professional Judgement
AI tools are getting smarter, but planning still needs a teacher’s mind.
This post is part of a series exploring how schools can integrate AI meaningfully, ethically and strategically. It offers insights and strategies for educators across all curricula and contexts, from Dubai to Dublin, Delhi to Durban and everywhere in between.
Subscribers get exclusive access to adaptable planning templates and CPD slides for building professional confidence with AI.
Why this matters
As lesson planning tools powered by AI become more sophisticated, it’s tempting to think they can do the thinking for us. But planning a lesson is more than assembling a sequence of tasks, it’s about knowing your students, understanding the curriculum, and designing learning that builds on what came before and what’s coming next.
This post looks at how AI can support teachers without replacing their professional judgement and why pedagogy still comes first.
What AI can (and can’t) do in planning
AI tools are powerful assistants, but they’re not planners in the full sense of the word. They can enhance our thinking, save time, and suggest ideas, but they can’t replace the depth of understanding that comes from knowing your students, your curriculum and your school’s context. Here’s what AI can realistically offer… and where human expertise must still lead.
Used well, AI can:
Help generate starter activities and ideas for tasks
Suggest Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary in context
Create model answers or writing frames for differentiation
Provide retrieval or hinge questions based on learning objectives
Generate low-stakes quizzes for lesson endpoints
But it can’t do this effectively without your detailed expert input:
Understand the sequencing of your curriculum
Know your students’ misconceptions and prior knowledge
Judge cognitive load or suitability for EAL and SEND learners
Align to your school's specific approach to challenge and progression
The ‘Teacher First, AI Second’ model
This simple mindset shift ensures that AI becomes a support tool, not a crutch. Planning should still begin with:
What do I want my students to learn?
What misconceptions might arise?
What prior knowledge do they need?
Once you’ve established those, AI can be invited in to enhance, not design, the tasks. Whether you’re using platforms like MagicSchool, Eduaide, or ChatGPT, the human decisions come first.
This is especially important in early years or foundation stage planning, where developmentally appropriate learning requires deep knowledge of child development, context, and play-based strategies, something AI tools cannot replicate.
How planning with AI builds, not replaces, professionalism
Used well, AI doesn’t reduce professional judgement, it creates space to apply it more deliberately. When AI tools save time on routine generation of ideas or quiz questions, teachers have more capacity to:
Differentiate more meaningfully
Adapt tasks based on classroom dynamics
Build in formative checks for understanding
Reflect on student work and adjust future planning
The aim is not to let AI take over but to free up energy for the parts of teaching that matter most.
In practice: Real classroom examples
Across subjects and phases, teachers are already integrating AI into their planning in creative ways:
A Year 6 teacher used AI to generate reading comprehension texts aligned to the class topic on migration, then rewrote the questions to ensure challenge for higher-attaining pupils.
In a PE department, a teacher asked AI to create themed warm-ups linked to World Cup countries being studied in geography, creating cross-curricular buzz.
A secondary music teacher used AI to draft a knowledge organiser comparing musical styles, then edited it to include listening links and cultural context.
Teacher insight:
“I use AI to give me a first draft. then I edit with my students in mind. It’s like a starting point, not the finished product.”
These examples show how AI can accelerate planning but always under the direction of teacher knowledge and intent.
Questions for reflection
Where in your planning do you spend the most time and could AI lighten the load there?
How do you ensure AI-generated content matches your school’s expectations for stretch, challenge or support?
How do you adapt AI outputs to meet specific student needs especially EAL, SEND or high prior attainers?
Have you discussed what “AI-informed planning” should look like as a phase, subject or department team?
Next steps for leaders
Usage audit – Start by auditing where AI is already being used in planning, formally or informally
Shared protocols – Encourage departments to co-construct a shared “AI planning protocol” to safeguard quality and consistency
CPD modelling – Use professional learning time to explore examples of planning enhanced (not replaced) by AI
Judgement first – Ensure planning expectations reflect the value of professional judgement, not generic templates or outputs
EYFS inclusion – Invite early years and foundation staff to share what responsible, age-appropriate AI use looks like in their planning
Useful Links
World Economic Forum – Shaping the Future of Learning: The Role of AI in Education (2024)
A strategic global report on integrating AI into education, with insights into supporting teacher-led planning and maintaining depth in learning.
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Shaping_the_Future_of_Learning_2024.pdfEdSurge – Teachers Believe That AI Is Here to Stay in Education (2025)
Based on teacher surveys, this article explores the tensions between AI integration and teacher professionalism in areas like planning and assessment.
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2025-03-27-teachers-believe-that-ai-is-here-to-stay-in-education-how-it-should-be-taught-is-debatable
AI in Education Blog Series – Full List
This 4-week series explores how schools can embed AI meaningfully, ethically and strategically across curriculum, CPD, leadership and inclusion. New posts are published four times a week throughout June and July 2025.
Week 1: Orientation – Understanding the Shift
1.Why AI in Schools Is a Pedagogical Shift, Not a Tech Trend
2.How to Talk to Students About AI (Even When You’re Not an Expert)
3.Bridging the Gap: What Parents and Teachers Need to Understand About AI
4.How Ready Is Your School for AI? A Leadership Reflection
Week 2: Teaching, Equity and Ethics
5. Planning with AI Without Losing Professional Judgement (You are here)
6. Can We Really Teach Ethics in AI? Yes – Here’s How
7. What Inclusive AI Use Looks Like in EAL and SEND Contexts
8. Keeping Students Safe: The New Rules of AI and Safeguarding
Week 3: Teaching Across Subjects
9. Reimagining Reading and Writing: AI in English and Arabic
10. AI in Math and Science: From Calculation to Simulation
11. What Happens to Critical Thinking When AI Can Summarise?
12. Creativity and Authenticity in the Age of AI
Week 4: Strategy, Assessment and Future Readiness
13. What Every School Needs Before Saying “We Use AI”
14. Why CPD on AI Should Start with Questions, Not Tools
15. What Does “AI Literacy” Really Mean, and How Do We Know Students Are Gaining It?
16. From Pilot to Policy: Embedding AI in the School Development Plan