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As we head into the second half of the 2025-2026 school year, TPT conducted a survey of nearly 11,500 classroom teachers, administrators, and support staff in the U.S. (82%) and around the globe to uncover the truth about what it’s like to be an educator today. These findings reveal their perspectives on issues at the forefront of education, including workload pressures and using generative AI.
Key takeaways
- Nearly two-thirds of educators describe their stress level about work as high or critical.
- A majority (80%) of educators report using AI tools in their classrooms.
- Nearly half (48%) use AI primarily to create resources, followed by brainstorming ideas (20%) and completing administrative tasks (17%)
- Two-thirds of educators believe that AI is a starting point (40%) or that human-created resources are superior (27%). Only 7% believe AI alone can meet their needs and replace what they used to make themselves or buy.
Educator stress is reaching a critical point
Educators are under a ton of pressure, so it’s no surprise that the demands of the job are taking a toll on their mental health. The majority (60%) of educators describe their current workload stress level as either high (50%) or critical (10%) suggesting high levels of potential burnout (read more on tips for reducing burnout).
This is particularly acute among elementary grade (1st-5th) teachers, who report higher stress levels than their peers. This may be attributed to some of the unique demands these educators face, especially with regard to managing behavior and teaching a wide variety of foundational learning skills.
Meanwhile, administrators and support staff are more divided about their stress levels: 47% describe their stress as manageable, while 45% say it is high.
Educators see AI as a tool, not a replacement for teacher insight and creativity
As educator stress levels continue to rise, they are turning to additional resources and tools — like AI — to support them and save time. As one elementary educator notes: “My new school is dreadfully under-resourced without a clear curriculum, but the expectations are incredibly high. I’m also teaching a new subject. I never used AI before, but the demand is so intense I had to turn to it to survive lesson planning. . . I prefer human work, but it’s impossible to stay afloat without some help.”
At a high level, AI has become increasingly embedded in educators’ daily practice. A majority of educators are using AI either regularly (23%) or occasionally (35%), while nearly a quarter have tried it once or twice (22%). For educators who describe their stress levels as high, they are more likely to report using AI in the classroom.
The ways that educators leverage AI reveals a lot about their motivations for using it. Nearly half (44%) use AI primarily to create resources, followed by brainstorming ideas (20%). However, the biggest reason educators turn to AI is differentiation. Anecdotally, a lot of respondents cited modifying resources as a major pain point that AI helps them solve.
While the vast majority of educators are using AI in their classrooms, they remain clear-eyed about AI’s limitations and benefits — and continue to advocate for real educator experience and expertise. A mere 7% of teachers believe that AI alone can meet their needs and replace what they used to make themselves or buy, while the vast majority of educators view AI as a starting point (40%) or believe human-created resources are superior (27%). As another educator notes, “AI is a wonderful tool to help create a lesson, but should not be relied on to teach it. My students can tell the difference and that is why I choose to use it less.”
The message is unmistakable: While AI may help lighten educators’ workload, they do not believe it can replace the experience or creativity of teachers.
TPT Survey Methodology
TPT sent an 21-question survey of multiple-choice and open-ended questions to active and churned users on the TPT platform to gather educators’ opinions on how the 2025-26 school year was going. The survey was sent via email on January 22, 2026, and was completed by 11,350 educators. The margin of error is +/-3 percentage points. Characteristics of the respondents are displayed below.
| Region | |
| West | 20% |
| Midwest | 18% |
| Northeast | 16% |
| South | 28% |
| International | 18% |
| Student Grades (Respondents chose all that apply, percentages may not add to 100%) |
|
| PreK-K | 27% |
| 1-5 | 47% |
| 6-8 | 29% |
| 9-12 | 25% |
| Adult Learners | 4% |
| Other | 4% |
| Role | |
| Classroom Teacher | 81% |
| Administrator & Support Staff | 19% |
Extraordinary resources for everyday teaching
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