I have a son who is almost 14 years old. He has been unschooled most of his childhood, following his interests, curiosity, and personal goals. Most of what he knows he has learned through play, asking questions, experimenting, family conversations, observing people, watching tutorials, and lately, looking things up on various chatbots.
Last year, he took two eight-week courses on Outschool to learn a game development software called Unity. Then he spent the summer continuing to develop his skills in his normal, self-directed ways. About a week ago, he told me he wanted to take another course.
What caught my attention wasn’t that he wanted to do another formal class, although that was somewhat surprising as he has avoided those most of his unschooling life. Rather, it was his reasons for wanting a teacher.
It got me thinking: What is the role of a teacher in the age of AI?
When information, demonstrations, and even personalized chatbot tutoring are all available on demand, what motivates a teenager to want a human teacher and a formal class?
My son revealed three needs he would like a teacher to fill:
- Expertise: someone with embodied experience in this skill set who can help him learn more efficiently.
- Consistency: an accountability partner to help him work regularly toward the goal of developing this skill.
- Community: being with peers who share his interests and are also working on the same skills.
What would a school look like if the role of its teachers was to meet these needs using their uniquely human skills, knowing that all of its students have virtually limitless access to information in their pockets?
Teacher as Expert
One thing my son explained to me is that ChatGPT wasn’t a great coding teacher. When he asked how to code something, it would do it for him. When he said, “Don’t do it for me; explain to me how to do it,” it tended to explain something wrong. He was starting to see the value in working with a human who has lived experience working with this tool, someone who can compress years of trial and error into efficient, effective workflows.
He wants to be able to do the thing, but he also wants to learn how to do it well; and he is starting to see that information isn’t the same thing as expertise. AI can provide a lot of information, but it lacks the human experience that translates into better shortcuts, discernment about which details matter, and intuition to recognize where a beginner is getting stuck.
A teacher who is sharing expertise would ask the student a lot of clarifying questions to understand what the student already knows and what new information or practice would help him grow. She would observe him working to see what tips and tricks would help him become more efficient, effective, or confident in his skills. More than just knowing the answer to questions, an expert teacher helps a student know which questions to ask.
Teacher as Accountability Partner
We use AI in our microschool to help kids break their projects down into smaller task lists, so I know it can help you create a plan. But there is nothing quite like the human warmth of a mentor who can ask you how your project is going right when you need a reminder or some encouragement.
It was interesting to hear my unschooler son express a desire for assignments with deadlines and regular meeting times. He is learning that there is a difference between having a goal and making consistent progress toward it, and he sees the value in having a teacher who holds him accountable to his progress.
A teacher who acts as an accountability partner would feel more like a coach or mentor than a traditional authority figure. She would have the student’s trust, both because of her expertise and because she has consistently demonstrated concern for the student’s success and happiness. When the student fails to meet a deadline, her first response would be curiosity rather than punishment. Her goal is to help her students move forward on things they care about by teaching them skills that help them overcome their personal obstacles.
Teacher as Community Holder
I think we underestimate the importance of this role for teachers, especially when we overemphasize the transference of information and the need to prepare for testing. The first job of a school should be to build a community where people learn together. When done well, it would feel like friends coming to feast together on knowledge, to wander down paths of curiosity, and to celebrate creativity. Students learn more from the culture in which they are immersed than from the content presented, and teachers set the tone for that culture.
A teacher acting as a community holder would focus first on what learning will feel like in her environment, rather than simply what information will be taught. She would make space for students to share ideas, contribute to the culture, and inspire one another. Her priority would be to foster relationships of trust and generosity, where students feel that they can make genuine contributions to their community. This classroom feels alive because knowledge is flowing in many directions.
Teacher as Challenger
I would add a fourth role to my son’s list: teacher as challenger.
Technology tends to optimize for convenience. But growth doesn’t necessarily happen through convenience. AI will give us information quickly, answer questions directly, and solve problems for us. It will remove friction. I love that for helping kids try something new, but sometimes the friction is where all the learning happens.
If a chatbot’s model is to increase our dependence on it, we need teachers who grow independence.
A teacher who is optimizing for growth will ask questions like:
- What have you tried already?
- What do you think the next step is?
- Explain your thinking to me. Where did that answer come from?
- What is your plan for this part?
- What other possibilities could you try?
- What could you figure out without my help?
- What do you think you should do next?
When we focus too much on making sure that students find the “right” answer, the temptation is to act more like a chatbot and less like a learning coach. Students need teachers who help them learn to think, question information, test hypotheses, tolerate uncertainty, and try their own ideas. They need teachers who know when to give an answer and when not to give one.
So What Are Teachers For?
In the age of information, perhaps we have been asking teachers to do the wrong job. If we allow students to seek out more information on their own, perhaps we can free up teachers to share expertise, be accountability partners and community holders, and help students grow into independence. If teachers don’t have to teach information, they will be free to teach people.
