Google Opens Free AI Teacher Training to the UK and Ireland

Educators across the UK and Ireland are gaining a free training route for using AI in lesson preparation, administrative work and teaching students with different needs. Google is opening its Google AI Educator Series to the two countries, describing a potential audience of 650,000 educators. That figure describes the audience the company aims to serve, not a count of teachers who have completed training.

Short lessons, led by teachers

The curriculum is built by educators and delivered through teacher-led virtual and in-person events. Google describes the lessons as practical and bite-sized, with an emphasis on tasks teachers can apply immediately rather than digital literacy alone.

Google also says the program is intended to help educators safely guide students and use the technology responsibly.

Completing modules earns educators micro-credentials and badges that showcase their AI literacy. These recognize completion of the training; Google’s stated ambition to reclaim teaching time is a goal, not a measured outcome of the UK and Ireland expansion.

For educators interested in participating, Google directs readers to its Google for Education Gemini Roadshow to learn more and sign up for an upcoming Educator Series event.

74%UK education roles

Google cites Public First analysis estimating that 74% of UK education roles have the potential to be enhanced by AI. This is an estimate of opportunity, not a finding that those roles already benefit.

School policy sits alongside teacher skills

The announcement also highlights an AI Policy Toolkit created with the National Governance Association. It is aimed at school governors and trustees, helping them safely adopt AI policy, tools and training. Its audience differs from the educator sessions: the toolkit addresses school governance, while the series focuses on educators’ practical skills.

Google places the UK expansion within a wider digital-skills effort. It says teachers trained through the series will contribute toward the UK government’s goal of training 10 million workers in digital skills by 2030.

Google says it initially launched the offer to six million educators in the United States and subsequently brought it to India and Korea.