Although World Teachers’ Day was marked on October 5, I’d still like to raise a toast, not just to the profession that builds every other profession, but to the teachers willing to evolve, question, and explore.
Not too long ago, my niece looked up at me with all the seriousness of a TED Talk and asked, “Auntie, do you know who my favourite teacher is?” I braced myself, ready for some name I didn’t know, probably someone with a TikTok account and a whiteboard. But she hit me with “It’s ChatGPT.” Whew! I almost clutched my pearls. But then a little voice in my head whispered, “……Same.” Because let’s be honest: ChatGPT has been my teacher, therapist, and unofficial Google search bar all year long. So I just smiled and nodded like, “Fair enough.” Then she added, “But I still love Miss Halima. ChatGPT just helps me when she’s busy.” And there it was, the whole future of education in one sweet, innocent sentence.
Although World Teachers’ Day was marked on October 5, I’d still like to raise a toast, not just to the profession that builds every other profession, but to the teachers willing to evolve, question, and explore.
While some fear that AI might replace them, the real opportunity is far more exciting: what if the best teachers of tomorrow aren’t the ones who compete with ChatGPT but the ones who collaborate with it?
According to Unesco, the world needs 69 million more teachers by 2030 to meet global education goals. And even where teachers are present, they’re overworked and under-resourced. A McKinsey report found that teachers spend nearly 50 per cent of their time on non-teaching tasks, grading, admin, and planning. Burnout is real, especially in underfunded systems. Yet OpenAI’s ChatGPT now has over 180 million users, many of them students using it to learn in real time. The question is no longer if AI will enter the classroom. It’s how well teachers will be supported to lead that shift.
AI doesn’t come with intuition, compassion, or the ability to see a student’s potential before they see it themselves. It can process data but doesn’t pick up on unspoken struggles or believe in a student before they believe in themselves. That’s not a flaw in the algorithm; it’s a feature of being human, and that is where teachers remain unmatched. Educators who pair pedagogical expertise with AI literacy, specifically the skill of prompt engineering, position themselves not only as effective instructors but also as indispensable leaders in the future of learning.
The future isn’t teacher vs. chatbot. It’s a teacher and chatbot.
5 ways teachers can use ChatGPT today
1. Personalised learning at scale Use ChatGPT to create differentiated worksheets, reading comprehension questions, or levelled text summaries for students with varying needs within seconds.
2. Instant feedback generator Struggling to give individual feedback on 40 essays? Feed a sample into ChatGPT and ask for constructive, student-friendly comments. Tweak as needed.
3. Prompt-based critical thinking Use ChatGPT responses as starting points for debates, critique exercises, or group discussions. Teach students how to question, refine, and improve AI outputs.
4. Creative lesson planning assistant Input your topic and ask ChatGPT to suggest activities, story-based explanations, or even songs and games related to the content, save time, and spark joy.
5. Emotional burnout buffer Tired? Overwhelmed? ChatGPT can help draft class reports, write parent emails, or summarise long policy docs. You still approve of them, but your cognitive load drops.
To every teacher reading this: you are not replaceable, and you never were. You’ve got intuition, empathy, timing, and the power to change a life with a sentence. Sure, AI might respond faster, but it doesn’t see students the way you do. It doesn’t notice the quiet student who’s finally raising their hand. It doesn’t stay up at night thinking about how to reach that one learner who’s falling behind.
I therefore challenge you to try one new way of using AI in your classroom, if you are not already, and see what happens. The best teachers are not scrambling to keep up; they’re innovating and teaching with a growth mindset.
The future of learning still needs you, teaching with both your heart and your chatbot.
