Ethical Augmentation, Not Automation: Rehumanising Assessment for Teacher Wellbeing

Ethical Augmentation, Not Automation: Rehumanising Assessment for Teacher Wellbeing

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools into education is reshaping the nature of teachers’ work, particularly in the domain of assessment. Promoted as a solution to intensifying workload and the need for rapid feedback cycles, AI promises efficiency and personalisation. Yet, for teachers and teacher educators, this technological shift raises complex questions about judgement, professionalism, trust, and emotional labour.
This conceptual paper explores the tensions and possibilities of AI-supported assessment through the lens of teacher wellbeing and ethical professional practice. Drawing on curriculum theory, the ethics of care, and sociological understandings of teachers’ work, the paper argues that dominant approaches to AI risk reproducing managerialist logics of automation, standardisation, and performativity—positioning teachers as data processors rather than relational professionals. This framing not only undermines professional judgement but may intensify emotional and cognitive strain, particularly when AI systems are introduced without pedagogical transparency or educator agency.
In response, the paper proposes a model of ethical augmentation: an approach to AI integration that supports rather than supplants professional expertise. Ethical augmentation positions AI as a pedagogical partner capable of streamlining routine feedback, supporting moderation, and scaffolding assessment design—within frameworks that foreground relational trust, contextual nuance, and cognitive clarity. Teacher judgement is framed not as a risk to be managed, but as an ethical and affective form of knowledge vital to sustaining teacher wellbeing in a digital age.
This paper draws on findings from a PRISMA-aligned systematic literature review of empirical studies on AI-supported assessment published between 2015 and 2025. Insights from this review inform the conceptual framework and illustrate the competing discourses surrounding automation, autonomy, and wellbeing.
This work contributes to the Teachers’ Work and Lives SIG by reimagining how digital technologies intersect with the realities of teacher labour. In a sector increasingly urged to “work smarter,” it offers a critical alternative to technosolutionist narratives—inviting a more deliberate, values-led direction for research, practice, and policy. Rather than resisting AI outright, the paper advocates for its responsible use in ways that enhance, rather than erode, the human heart of teaching.

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