Are remote teachers and AI deepfakes the answer to hiring problems?

Schools across the UK are trialling the use of fake teachers and even employing remote staff to deliver lessons hundreds of miles away from the classroom.

This comes as the use of AI becomes more prevalent in schools.

The government says AI has the power to transform education and improve teacher workload, particularly when it comes to teacher management.

The BBC has spoken to teachers, school leaders and unions who appear divided over what the future of UK classrooms should look like.

Emily Cooke is a maths teacher at The Valley Leadership Academy in Lancashire, which has hired a virtual maths teacher, a decision Mrs Cooke is strongly against.

“Will your virtual teacher be there to dance with you at prom, hug your mom during results day, or high-five you in the hallway because they know you won the game last night?” she says.

Since September, the top Year 9, 10 and 11 pupils at Mrs Cooke’s school have been taught by the remote maths teacher, who lives 300 miles away in Devon.

Teachers went on strike over the measure last week and this week.

The school said it was a “small-scale initiative” but the National Education Union (NEU) called it an “unacceptable situation”.

Mrs Cooke says: “As a mother and as a teacher, I don’t believe that the teacher-student relationship, which is so important, can be formed or replicated through a screen.”

The school told the BBC that its approach is a win-win, where “pupils benefit from lessons delivered online by a leading specialist teacher” who is supported in the classroom by a second teacher.

In a different academy, AI experiments are going further than most.

Shane Ierston, chief executive of the Great Schools Trust, says its priority is to provide children at its schools in Liverpool, Warrington and Bolton with a “world-class, world-class education”.

Ierston believes that smart use of AI can help free up teachers’ time to focus on developing students’ character, leadership, and resilience.

Teachers can now use their AI system to grade assessments and mock exams, which they say is more accurate.

The trust’s AI director, Benjamin Barker, says AI technology can identify gaps in student learning and help teachers plan future lessons.

After marking, deep AI will produce a personalized feedback video for each child.

The technology will be trialled this year, before receiving feedback from staff, students and parents.

Using AI “as a leveler” will ensure that each child receives “personalized teaching,” and the teacher in the classroom will make sure they understand, Ierston says.

Having a deepfake will be “completely voluntary for teachers,” he adds.

“What we’re not trying to do is replace teachers,” Ierston says. “We’re trying to use technology, things that have a bad reputation, and see how it can be used to benefit society.

“That’s the future.”

Deepfakes will also be used to help absent students catch up from home or to translate parents’ messages into the 46 languages ​​spoken in schools.

When asked what they would say to those who oppose children interacting with deepfake technology, Ierston says it’s “natural” for people to fear change.

“But we would rather lead the change than have Silicon Valley do it for us,” he says.

“We know that what we do is centered around children and the right values.”

Nicola Burrows works for the trust and has a daughter, Lucy, in year 11.

When asked what he thought about Lucy receiving deep AI feedback from her teacher, he said it would be “really, really special to have that very specific personalization with a face you know.”

But she adds that it’s “really important that we bring parents with us” when it comes to new initiatives, including addressing any safety concerns.

Technology, screens and artificial intelligence in the classroom are divisive topics, especially among parents.

“I think it’s fair to say that parents are deeply skeptical about AI,” says Frank Young, policy director at the charity Parentkind, a national charity that aims to give parents a voice in education.

Only 12% think AI should be used in the classroom, according to the results of their annual survey, to which more than 5,000 parents responded in April of this year.

“But I think we can do it by giving parents peace of mind about how this AI will be used and how it will benefit children,” Young says.

There are no official figures on how many schools use AI in classrooms with students, but Ofsted is collecting evidence on how AI is used in FE schools and colleges.

Data from the Teacher Tapp survey tool, which asks thousands of teachers a series of questions each day, found that in October 2024, 31% of teachers said they had used AI in the past week to help them with their work. By October 2025, that figure had increased to 58%.

John Roberts, chief executive of Oak National Academy, which provides DfE-funded lesson planning resources for teachers, says more than 40,000 teachers have used its experimental AI lesson planning tool since its launch in September last year.

Back in The Valley, Ms Cooke says she doesn’t believe online learning is as effective as face-to-face, pointing to the “huge gaps” in Covid learning, when schools closed and millions of lessons moved online.

“I thought we were trying to get teenagers off screens, not give them five hours a week in their math lessons.” she says.

“The fear is that if we don’t stop this, if it’s not challenged in The Valley, it will spread,” he says.

“And in 20 years, what will education be like? Are we okay with that?”

An academy spokesperson says in-school distance learning is “not comparable” to pandemic-era teaching as it is “structured, supported and takes place in school.”

It says hiring a remote teacher is a “small-scale, targeted response to the national shortage of specialized math teachers. Our priority is, and always will be, ensuring students receive the highest quality instruction.”

There are now three virtual teachers being used across the trust “deployed in very specific circumstances where recruiting high-quality subject specialists has been exceptionally difficult”, it says.

The Department for Education says technology must be “carefully managed to enhance, not replace, the deep thinking, creativity and critical engagement that underpin effective learning.”

But NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede says the union is against distance learning and will “never tolerate the imposition of a virtual teacher”.

The trust in charge of The Valley says it is committed to working positively with its NEU colleagues to resolve this matter.