UK AI Exposure · Professional occupations
Teachers of english as a foreign language
Teachers of English as a foreign language teach students to speak and write the English language, either for the first time or building on their existing knowledge.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 1.5/10 Minimal 5.9/10 Moderate strict reading · with tools is 5.9/10 with-tools reading · strict is 1.5/10
- Wage exposure
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Higher exposure than 68% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
A meaningful slice of the task inventory is AI-reachable - the drafting, summarising, research and analysis parts especially. This role is at the point where the people who learn to direct AI well pull ahead of the people who don't.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
Treat AI as a colleague you manage, not a tool you use. Identify the tasks where you'd describe the work to a capable junior - those are the tasks AI can do for you now. Spend your time on the judgment calls and the relationships instead.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
These are the highest-importance tasks a language model can already handle directly today. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these, so they stop eating your team's time.
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Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to students.
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Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws or administrative policies.
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Prepare for assigned classes and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
These are the highest-importance tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these — usually the difference between an LLM that can technically do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Observe and evaluate students' work to determine progress and make suggestions for improvement.
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Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to students.
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Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs, abilities, and interests.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
Tasks via O*NET "Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors" (25-3011.00).
What AI can already do
5 of 37 tasks · unaided
Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to students.
Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws or administrative policies.
Prepare for assigned classes and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
Attend professional meetings, conferences, and workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
Where humans still hold the line
32 of 37 tasks
Observe and evaluate students' work to determine progress and make suggestions for improvement.
Observe students to determine qualifications, limitations, abilities, interests, and other individual characteristics.
Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs, abilities, and interests.
Prepare students for further education by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
Instruct students individually and in groups, using various teaching methods, such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
Assign and grade class work and homework.
Conduct classes, workshops, and demonstrations to teach principles, techniques, or methods in subjects, such as basic English language skills, life skills, and workforce entry skills.
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among the students for whom they are responsible.
Provide students with disabilities with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
Prepare and administer written, oral, and performance tests and issue grades in accordance with performance.
Provide information, guidance, and preparation for the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) examination.
Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.
Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.
Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.
Select and schedule class times to ensure maximum attendance.
Review instructional content, methods, and student evaluations to assess strengths and weaknesses, and to develop recommendations for course revision, development, or elimination.
Register, orient, and assess new students according to standards and procedures.
Train and assist tutors and community literacy volunteers.
Collaborate with other teachers and professionals in the development of instructional programs.
Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required.
Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or special academic interests.
Select, order, and issue books, materials, and supplies for courses or projects.
Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons that promote learning, following approved curricula.
Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guest speakers, contests, or other experiential activities, and guide students in learning from those activities.
Observe and evaluate the performance of other instructors.
Confer with leaders of government and community groups to coordinate student training or to find opportunities for students to fulfill curriculum requirements.
Participate in publicity planning, community awareness efforts, and student recruitment.
Advise students on internships, prospective employers, and job placement services.
Tasks via O*NET "Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors" (25-3011.00).
What AI can already do
23 of 37 tasks · with tools
Observe and evaluate students' work to determine progress and make suggestions for improvement.
Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to students.
Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs, abilities, and interests.
Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
Assign and grade class work and homework.
Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws or administrative policies.
Prepare and administer written, oral, and performance tests and issue grades in accordance with performance.
Provide information, guidance, and preparation for the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) examination.
Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
Prepare for assigned classes and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.
Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.
Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
Select and schedule class times to ensure maximum attendance.
Review instructional content, methods, and student evaluations to assess strengths and weaknesses, and to develop recommendations for course revision, development, or elimination.
Register, orient, and assess new students according to standards and procedures.
Collaborate with other teachers and professionals in the development of instructional programs.
Select, order, and issue books, materials, and supplies for courses or projects.
Attend professional meetings, conferences, and workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons that promote learning, following approved curricula.
Observe and evaluate the performance of other instructors.
Participate in publicity planning, community awareness efforts, and student recruitment.
Advise students on internships, prospective employers, and job placement services.
Where humans still hold the line
14 of 37 tasks
Observe students to determine qualifications, limitations, abilities, interests, and other individual characteristics.
Prepare students for further education by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
Instruct students individually and in groups, using various teaching methods, such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
Conduct classes, workshops, and demonstrations to teach principles, techniques, or methods in subjects, such as basic English language skills, life skills, and workforce entry skills.
Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among the students for whom they are responsible.
Provide students with disabilities with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.
Train and assist tutors and community literacy volunteers.
Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required.
Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or special academic interests.
Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guest speakers, contests, or other experiential activities, and guide students in learning from those activities.
Confer with leaders of government and community groups to coordinate student training or to find opportunities for students to fulfill curriculum requirements.
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Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
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