Short answer
Use AI to understand, plan and polish. Do not use it to write your answers. Your assessments must show your own thinking and your own practice, and generic AI answers rarely pass anyway. If you are unsure, ask your tutor before you submit.
Why it matters
Your assessments exist to check that you can do the job: plan a session, judge evidence fairly, reflect honestly on your practice. If AI writes the answer, the certificate says something about you that is not true, and you walk into your next session without the skills it was meant to build.
So the question is not ‘Is AI cheating?’ It is ‘Am I using it to think, or instead of thinking?’
Where AI genuinely helps learners
Explaining a tricky idea
Not sure what Bloom’s Taxonomy means by ‘evaluate’? Asking AI to explain it in plain English is no different from looking it up. It never minds a basic question.
Getting past the blank page
Ask for a rough list of points you might cover, then write the answer yourself with your own examples. The structure can come from anywhere; the substance has to come from you.
Tidying your writing
Grammar and clarity checks on your own draft are fine. The ideas, examples and reflection stay yours.
Finding a starting point for research
AI can name a theory or framework quickly. Then check it against your course materials or a reliable source, because AI can be confidently wrong.
Where it falls short
It does not know your learners
When a question asks how you use inclusive strategies, the answer must come from your sessions, your learners and your setting. AI can only offer something generic, and assessors spot generic answers quickly.
It gets facts wrong
It produces text that sounds right, not text that is checked. Getting legislation or qualification rules wrong because ‘the AI said so’ is a real problem in a professional role.
It can skip the growth
The real value of your course is the thinking it makes you do. Skip that and you finish with a certificate but without the confidence to back it up.
How teachers and trainers can use it
✓First drafts of session plans and activity ideas, then adapted to your group
✓Ideas for adapting a session for different needs, from reading support to stretch tasks
✓A starter bank of quiz questions, every one checked for accuracy
✓Summaries of long reports or papers, with key claims checked before you use them
How assessors and IQAs can use it
✓Templates for feedback, standardisation notes and sampling plans, personalised every time
✓Spotting patterns across assessment data, with your own judgement making the call
✓Quick summaries of guidance changes, always checked against the awarding organisation’s own documents
One rule never changes: a qualified person makes and owns every assessment decision. Never paste learners’ personal details into a tool your organisation has not approved.
What counts as your own work
Awarding organisations are consistent on this: AI can support learning, but submitted work must show the learner’s own understanding and judgement. Our Artificial Intelligence Policy says the same. We use AI to help produce course materials, but a qualified human assessor stays accountable for every decision. You may use AI to help you learn; what you submit must be in your own words.
If we think work is not your own, we start by asking you to redo it in your own words. Serious or repeated cases follow the Learner Sanctions Policy. Plagiarism and Academic Integrity Policy
Three questions before you use AI on an assignment
Am I using it to think, or instead of thinking?
Structuring ideas or clarifying a concept: fine. Generating the answer so you do not have to engage: not fine.
Does the answer show my own practice?
If it could have been written by any teacher anywhere, it is not finished. Add your learners, your setting and what you actually did.
Could I explain it in a conversation?
If your tutor asked you to talk it through, could you? If not, it is not yet your understanding.
Not sure?
Ask your tutor before you submit. It is a two-minute email, and a much easier conversation than the one afterwards.
AI can draft. Only you can reflect.
The bigger picture
The trainers, assessors and IQAs who will use AI best are the ones who understand both what it can do and where it stops, and who keep their learners at the centre. That is simply good professional practice, which is exactly what your qualification is built to develop.
Questions people ask
Can I use AI on my course?
Yes, to help you learn: explaining ideas, planning and checking your writing. The work you submit must be your own words and thinking.
What happens if my work looks AI-written?
We first ask you to redo it in your own words. Serious or repeated cases follow our Learner Sanctions Policy.
Does The Teacher Trainer use AI?
We use it to help produce materials and support marking, but a qualified human assessor is accountable for every assessment decision.