Fostering basic skills in primary school children with the help of AI

To what extent can artificial intelligence (AI) help primary school children learn to read and write? The project »Schools using AI for reading, literary learning and writing« (»Schulen nutzen KI für Lesen, Literarisches Lernen und Schreiben«, SKILLS) is investigating precisely this question. The project involves a team from Friedrich Schiller University Jena's Chair of German Language and Literature Education and experts for digitality and education from the Pacemaker Initiative.

The aim of the joint project is to develop training programmes and, together with teachers, to practically test AI-supported options for promoting basic skills and to evaluate their potential and challenges. The project will be funded by the Auridis Foundation and the Victor Rolff Foundation for three years from 2025 to 2028 with around one million euros, of which around 600,000 euros will be allocated to Friedrich Schiller University.

Anchoring a reflective attitude towards AI in school media concepts

This is now the third AI project of the Jena Chair of German Language and Literature Education, following the projects »AI-supported didactic analysis in the school placement semester« (KIDAN) and »Writing with AI in the teaching profession«. »Similar to these projects, SKILLS is also about developing a reflective attitude towards AI in the long term and, in this case, anchoring it in the schools' media concept«, explains Dr Florian Hesse, who, together with Gerrit Helm and Aneta Wichers, forms the university core of the project team. The empirically and practically tested results are to be made available to schools not involved in the project during the course of the project so that they can also benefit from the findings as early as possible.

A total of 13 primary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia are taking part, and each year one of the three specialist focus topics is covered in the training programmes, starting with the topic of reading. The AI can support teachers in preparing and accompanying their lessons, for example by developing suggestions for tasks, differentiation material or diagnostic categories. In the best-case scenario, teachers and children benefit equally. »Here too, however, it is not just about using AI, but also about making a conscious and considered decision for or against its use and assessing the quality of the AI results«, emphasizes Gerrit Helm.

Researching the use of AI in teacher professionalization

The project will be accompanied by several cross-school and cross-location events, starting with a joint kick-off on 9 September 2025 at the Bonn Science Centre. The team from the University of Jena is working closely with the Pacemaker Initiative, which supports the schools in transferring the content into practice and anchoring it in their media concepts. »One of the project's strengths is that it brings together expertise from the areas of research and school development«, says Aneta Wichers.

»After focusing primarily on students in previous projects, it is an exciting task to now be able to extend the use of AI to the third phase of teacher training«, says Gerrit Helm. »This means that research into the use of AI in teacher professionalization can be further advanced in Jena.«