UK-based edtech startup Stylus has raised £500,000 in seed funding to address one of the biggest problems in education today: teacher workloads. Led by Sure Valley Ventures, this funding will help Stylus expand its AI-powered platform, LearnCycle, which automates the marking of paper-based assessments.
The platform aims to tackle one of the most pressing issues in education today—teacher workload—and, in doing so, improve staff retention.
Teachers in the UK are leaving their jobs at an alarming rate. Government statistics show that 40% of teachers leave the profession within five years, often due to excessive workloads.
Many educators spend hours marking papers, well beyond their contracted workday, which leads to burnout and eventually, resignation.
Stylus aims to tackle this problem by using AI to automate one of the most time-consuming tasks for teachers: grading.
Their platform, LearnCycle, processes paper-based assessments by scanning students’ papers and using AI to mark them. Freelance teachers then moderate the AI’s work to ensure accuracy and quality.
Stylus’ LearnCycle platform allows teachers to scan student assessments, which are then automatically marked by AI. This process reduces the amount of time teachers spend grading papers and allows them to focus more on teaching.
Importantly, freelance teachers review the AI-generated marks to maintain a high standard of personalised feedback for students.
Stylus is targeting schools that still rely on paper-based assessments, which are common in certain sectors. As Stylus founder Dominic Bristow, a former secondary school teacher, explains, “In a world of AI technologies, we can finally take the work out of the paperwork for schools, while ensuring that students still get personalised feedback.”
Time and Money Savings for Schools
The potential benefits of LearnCycle are significant. Schools using Stylus’ technology could save an estimated £17,000 of teacher time per subject, per year group. That adds up to around £750,000 in savings for an entire school. These savings aren’t just financial; they also represent a significant reduction in the time teachers spend working outside of classroom hours.
For teachers, this could mean less burnout and, ultimately, fewer people leaving the profession due to overwhelming workloads. Bristow, who left teaching himself for similar reasons, said: “Education leaders often believe that staff retention and high standards of marking can’t coexist. With Stylus, we want to show that’s not true.”
With the £500,000 seed funding, Stylus plans to improve the platform’s infrastructure, run controlled trials, and prepare for a full launch in January 2025. Several multi-academy trusts in both primary and secondary education have already tested the platform, and feedback has been positive.
Barry Downes, Managing Partner at Sure Valley Ventures, expressed his confidence in Stylus, stating: “Stylus’ AI technology helps teachers manage their workload, which could have a huge impact on education. Dominic’s experience as a teacher and his knowledge of education technology give him a strong advantage in solving this problem.”
Stylus’ AI-powered marking system is poised to make a real difference in UK schools, especially in sectors that still rely on paper-based assessments. By easing the workload on teachers, the platform aims to help schools retain staff and improve overall job satisfaction.
As Stylus prepares for its full launch in 2025, it will be interesting to see how many schools adopt the platform and whether it lives up to its promise of reducing teacher burnout while maintaining high-quality feedback for students.
