Why teachers need tools, time and training

A majority of teachers – 60% – now a report integrating AI into their lessons, a significant leap of only 40% the previous year, according to Education Week. However, despite this rapid adoption, 58% of K-12 teachers Lack of official AI training Almost two years after the introduction of Chatgpt.

This disconnection reveals the reality of the implementation of AI in American schools: teachers adopt technology faster than institutions cannot support them.

As a person who has spent more than 15 years working with young people through Wit (anyway), I observed this first -hand transformation. Our organization works with adolescent entrepreneurs who use AI daily for business planning, content creation and problem solving. Students arriving in classrooms today expect their teachers to understand and guide their use of AI, but many educators learn these tools at their own pace.

The teachers direct, but need support in AI

The data show that educators find practical applications in several areas. According to K-12 Dive researchTeachers who use AI most often apply it:

• Support students with learning differences (51%)
• Creation of quizs and evaluations (49%)
• Adjust content for appropriate school levels (48%)
• Generation of course plans (41%)
• Develop assignments (40%)

Chatbots like Chatgpt are used each week by 53% of educators, with arts in arts in English and social studies in intermediate and secondary schools showing the highest integration rates.

These applications show that teachers understand the potential of AI. They use it to improve their existing forces, including personalization of learning, creating more effective assessments and the development of materials adapted to the note.

At Wit, we have developed Wity, our personalized AI assistant who helps adolescent entrepreneurs to refine commercial arguments and carry out market studies. Thanks to this work, we have learned that an integration of successful AI requires both the right tools and the right training on how to use them effectively.

Based on these ideas, we are now associated with schools and teachers to help them develop effective AI strategies that work in real world classrooms. Our experience in creating AI tools for young entrepreneurs has taught us what educators need: not just access to technology but managers to deliberately use it.

The AI ​​training gap is real

Statistics reveal the scope of the necessary support. According to Edweek Research, only 43% of educators participated in at least one training session on AI, against 29% in 2025. Teachers cite several obstacles to obtaining the training they wish:

• Lack of institutional support and clear advice
• Competing priorities and limited time during the school day
• High costs of independent learning opportunities
• Insufficient direction of school and district leaders

Almost half of the teachers did not explore AI tools due to more urgent responsibilities. On the other hand, others report that the request for district policies for the use of the AI ​​of students only to meet the indifference or a clear orientation of the administrators.

Some teachers are so frustrated by the lack of support that they plan to leave the profession.

What the effective training of AI looks like

Teachers need (and deserve) time for practical experience with AI tools, collaboration opportunities with colleagues and continuous support when they experience new approaches.

Successful training programs generally include:

Practical exploration time. Teachers need hours dedicated to experiment with AI tools, not rapid supplements to existing professional development sessions.

Collaboration by peers. Educators effectively learn colleagues who share similar challenges and student populations.

Continuous support. AI's capacities evolve quickly, requiring continuous learning rather than a simple unique workshop.

Clear guidelines. Teachers need executives to distinguish appropriate AI violations and violations of academic integrity.

Respond to teachers' concerns about AI

Educators wonder if AI shortcuts could weaken creative students' problem solving skills or reduce their ability to tolerate difficult work. Some have noticed that students become too dependent on AI for the tasks they should master independently.

Training programs are more effective when they recognize and rely on real class experiences. Teachers benefit from the exploration of AI strengths and weaknesses, developing strategies that preserve rigorous learning standards.

Innovative educators are already changing their approaches. They ask more verbally questions, designing collaborative projects that require an original thought and the creation of assessments that reveal an authentic understanding. These innovations show how teachers can maintain academic integrity while preparing students for a world integrated into AI.

AI tools that help

The most successful IA implementations provide teachers with tools specially designed for educational use rather than AI platforms for general use. AI educational tools generally offer:

Alignment of the curriculum. The tools that connect to state standards and learning objectives make integration simpler.

Student safety characteristics. Educational AI platforms include content filters and privacy protections that may lack general tools.

Evaluation capacities. AI tools designed for education often include features that follow students' progress and help identify learning gaps.

Collaboration features. The tools that support individual and group work align with the realities of the class.

At Wit, we have found that personalized AI solutions often work better than standard options because they can be designed around specific educational objectives and the needs of individual students.

Students as a learning partners

Young people often adapt quickly to new technologies, making them precious partners in the integration of AI. Students can help teachers understand how IA tools work while teachers provide essential advice on ethical use and critical assessment of AI results.

This collaborative approach benefits everyone. Students learn to use AI in a responsibility while teachers acquire technical information. The partnership model creates mutual respect and shared property of the learning process.

Adolescent entrepreneurs in our Wit programs do not consider AI as threatening or mysterious. They consider him a powerful assistant who amplifies their creativity and their problem solving capacities. Their teachers should feel the same.

Build a ready -to -have school culture

Schools can rely on the foundation established by the first adopters. 60% of teachers who already integrate AI demonstrate that educators are ready to adopt these tools when they receive appropriate support.

Successful implementation requires:

Investment in training time. Significant development of literacy of AI requires dedicated professional development hours, rather than brief overviews.

Access to appropriate tools. Teachers need AI platforms specially designed for educational use, equipped with robust security and confidentiality features.

Clear policies. The guidelines that distinguish AI as a learning tool and AI as a substitute for learning are beneficial for teachers and students.

Continuous support. IA's capacities change quickly, requiring continuous learning opportunities rather than single training sessions.

The long -term path

In the past year, as I helped schools with AI adoption, I witnessed the wrestling schools with their AI policies and integration. The successful institutions share a line: they are seriously investing in their teachers.

The schools winning with AI do not only buy software – they create time for teachers to learn, experiment and share what works. The first adopters proved that this approach provides results and that more teachers are interested.

Teachers cannot master AI tools during lunch breaks or after exhausted on school days. They need protected time, practical training and authorization to try new approaches without penalty.