A recent survey from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reveals that teachers in the UAE are at the forefront of integrating artificial intelligence into their work, with adoption rates significantly surpassing global averages. The findings show that approximately 75% of UAE-based teachers utilize AI, a figure matched only by Singapore and drastically higher than the worldwide average of one in three educators.
A Striking Contrast To Global Trends
The OECD’s annual Teaching and Learning International Survey highlights a major disparity in AI adoption across different education systems. While three-quarters of teachers in the UAE embrace AI tools, fewer than 20% of their counterparts in developed nations like France and Japan report using the technology. The data shows a similar gap in perceived usefulness, with around 90% of UAE teachers agreeing that AI enhances lesson planning, compared to just 31% in Denmark and Finland, and less than 20% in France.
How AI Is Reshaping The Classroom
According to the report, educators in the UAE are most commonly using AI to learn about or summarize new topics and to generate lesson plans and classroom activities. This proactive use in preparation and content creation is seen as a key benefit. However, the technology is less frequently applied for reviewing data on student performance or participation. Despite the high adoption rates, a global concern remains, with seven out of ten teachers worldwide worrying that AI could facilitate plagiarism and cheating among students.
National Strategy Drives Adoption
The UAE’s impressive adoption rate is strongly linked to its national strategy and investment in professional development. Teachers in countries with the highest AI usage were also the most likely to have received specialized training. This is exemplified by the UAE government’s recent rollout of a national AI curriculum, which includes a program to train 1,000 teachers in artificial intelligence. This top-down approach, combined with increased investment in education technology by operators like the Dubai-listed Taaleem, underscores the nation’s commitment to building a future-ready education system.
About The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey
The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is an annual large-scale survey providing internationally comparable data on the learning environment and working conditions of teachers and school leaders. The 2024 State of Teaching report, published in October 2025, sampled approximately 280,000 teachers and school leaders at 17,000 lower secondary schools across 55 education systems. Among the GCC countries surveyed were the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain.
Source: AGBI
