Higher education
teaching professionals
Higher education teaching professionals deliver lectures and teach students to at least first degree level, undertake research and write journal articles and books in their chosen field of study.
- Employees (UK)
- 246k
- Median annual pay
- £46,494
- Exposure score ?
- 1.9/10 Minimal 7.8/10 High strict reading, with tools is 7.8/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.9/10
- Wage exposure
- £2.17bn £8.92bn
Higher exposure than 80% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of the routine work in this role can already be done by a capable model. The role does not disappear, but its shape changes, and one person can credibly cover the work of several.
If you are in this role
Stop spending time on what a model can do well. Your value is judgement, relationships and the parts of the work that need you in the room. Redesign the workflow around that before someone else does it for you.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
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Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
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Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Teach writing or communication classes.
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Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
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Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary" (25-1123.00).
What AI can already do
9 of 33 tasks, unaided
Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
Write letters of recommendation for students.
Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
Conduct staff performance evaluations.
Write original literary pieces.
Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.
Review manuscripts for publication in professional journals.
What still needs a person
24 of 33 tasks
Teach writing or communication classes.
Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as poetry, novel structure, and translation and adaptation.
Assist students who need extra help with their coursework outside of class.
Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
Teach classes using online technology.
Schedule courses.
Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks.
Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.
Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
Recruit, train, and supervise department personnel, such as faculty and student writing instructors.
Participate in campus and community events.
Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.
Participate in cultural and literary activities, such as traveling abroad and attending performing arts events.
Provide assistance to students in college writing centers.
Act as advisers to student organizations.
Provide professional consulting services to government or industry.
Tasks via O*NET "English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary" (25-1123.00).
What AI can already do
27 of 33 tasks, with tools
Teach writing or communication classes.
Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as poetry, novel structure, and translation and adaptation.
Assist students who need extra help with their coursework outside of class.
Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
Teach classes using online technology.
Schedule courses.
Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
Write letters of recommendation for students.
Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks.
Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.
Recruit, train, and supervise department personnel, such as faculty and student writing instructors.
Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.
Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
Provide assistance to students in college writing centers.
Conduct staff performance evaluations.
Write original literary pieces.
Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.
Review manuscripts for publication in professional journals.
Provide professional consulting services to government or industry.
What still needs a person
6 of 33 tasks
Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
Participate in campus and community events.
Participate in cultural and literary activities, such as traveling abroad and attending performing arts events.
Act as advisers to student organizations.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons