I remember my first year teaching back in Somerset, spending my Sunday afternoons hunched over a pile of thirty notebooks, marking the same grammar mistakes for the thousandth time. It felt like a rite of passage—a necessary sacrifice of my weekend for the good of my students. But sitting here in Shanghai, I’ve started to realise that my "sacrifice" was actually just a massive waste of life.
The Broad Debate
The homework debate usually splits teachers into two camps. On one side are the traditionalists who believe that "red pen" marking is a moral duty. They think that if a teacher doesn't personally mark every page, the students will feel ignored and the standards will slip.
On the other side are the tech optimists who want to automate everything. They see homework as a mechanical process of retrieval and practice that machines are simply better at managing than humans.
What the Thinkers Say
The education pundits—the ones who write for the big broadsheets—often speak about "feedback" as if it’s a sacred, purely human interaction. They worry that AI marking will be "dehumanising" and that students need the "personal touch."
Again, this feels like a view from a "polite bubble." It’s easy to value the sentiment of the red pen when you’re not the one facing 150 pieces of work every week. They values the symbol, but they ignore the truth of teacher burnout. As someone who values family before the state, I believe a teacher who spends ten hours a week marking homework is ten hours less of a father, a husband, or a member of their community. We shouldn't be sacrificing our families to a marking treadmill that machines can handle better.
My View
My view is that homework is the easiest thing to automate in education. Marking is a mechanical task that we’ve mistaken for a pedagogical one. If a machine can tell a student if their algebra is right, we should let it. The real value of homework isn't the "red pen" on the page; it's the data that tells the teacher what to do next. It’s about truth and kindness: being honest about where the kids are, and being kind enough to ourselves to go home on time.
Why Automation Wins
The Data Dashboard vs The Red Pen
When I mark by hand, I get a vague sense of how the class is doing. When an AI marks it, I get a precise dashboard. I can see that 80% of the class failed Question 4. This transforms my Monday morning. Instead of guessing where the gaps are, I can target them with precision. Like a lawyer in an M&A deal, I want the hard data, not the fuzzy feeling.
Protecting Sunday Lunch
Automation isn't about being lazy; it's about leverage. By letting the machines handle the retrieval practice, I reclaim my Sunday afternoon in Somerset (or Shanghai). Hard work and respect are vital, but so is respect for one's own well-being and community life.
What Happens Next?
If we want to stop the "marking treadmill," we need a shift in mindset:
- Automate the Mechanical: Use platforms for retrieval practice and multiple-choice questions. Don't waste a single human second on these.
- Reinvest the Time: Use the ten hours you save each week for something the AI can't do—one-to-one mentoring or planning more engaging lessons.
- Be Honest with Parents: Tell them that the "red pen" isn't what makes their child's education good. Precision data and more "teacher time" in the classroom are what actually matter.
For teachers: You aren't lazy for wanting to automate your marking. You're being professional about where your energy is most useful. Let the machines handle the homework so you can handle the humans.