Google Offers UK Teachers Free AI Training. Anthropic Trains Consultants

The figure in Google’s announcement is not a target. It is the entire profession. On Oct. 5 the company said it was opening its free AI Educator Series to “all 650,000 educators in the UK and Ireland,” the same programme it launched for 6 million educators in the US before taking it to India and Korea.

Three days earlier, Anthropic announced something far smaller and far more expensive. Its Claude Frontier Academy, backed by what it calls a US$100m (about £75m) commitment, aims to train 10,000 engineers by the end of 2027, with one of its first cohorts in London. Put side by side, the two launches show how AI companies are buying their way into British workplaces: one through the staffroom, the other through the consultancies that advise the boardroom.

What’s in Google’s free AI training for UK teachers

According to the post by Google for Education’s Fiona Law and Grace Kelly, the series offers virtual and in-person events led by teachers, short modules written by educators, and micro-credentials and badges on completion. The stated focus is personalised teaching, student safety and cutting admin. Teachers register through Google’s Gemini Roadshow events page, which the post links.

School leadership gets a separate track. Google says it worked with the National Governance Association, the membership body for school governors and trustees in England, on an AI policy toolkit. The association’s page describes it as made “in partnership with Google for Education” and offers it free, with a policy builder and discussion slides for board meetings.

Google backs the launch with a Public First analysis that “almost three quarters (74%)” of education roles could be enhanced by AI.

Who pays for free AI teacher training

Nobody pays in cash. The cost shows up elsewhere. Since June 2025, Google has made Gemini in Classroom free across its Workspace for Education editions for staff aged 18 and over. Training that teaches lesson planning in Gemini is also training that makes Gemini the default tool in a school.

The industry is open about why that matters. “Youth habits drive markets,” Securly chief executive Tammy Wincup told Axios in January, in a piece on Anthropic, Google and Microsoft competing for teachers.

The UK launch also comes as Google’s US school push draws criticism. On Oct. 1, The Wall Street Journal reported pushback from students and teachers over Gemini in American classrooms, including Miami-Dade County, which according to GIGAZINE’s summary rolled it out to more than 105,000 high school students.

Anthropic’s Claude Frontier Academy and its London cohort

Anthropic’s programme is not for the public. “Organizations nominate their strongest engineers, each arriving with a named Claude project to lead when they return,” the company says. The first cohorts come from Accenture, Bain, Capgemini, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deloitte, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley and Novo Nordisk.

The structure borrows from medicine: a multi-day in-person course with Anthropic engineers, a simulated enterprise deployment and graded assessment, then a 12-week residency leading a real Claude project back at the employer. The first Claude Frontier Deployed Engineer badges are expected in early 2027, and CNBC reported the launch on Oct. 2.

“A small team of high-agency people with the right skills, access to Claude, and a deep understanding of how their business runs can transform an entire company.” Steve Corfield, global head of business development and partnerships, Anthropic

Anthropic does not say what the US$100m buys, or whether employers pay to take part. Our read: five of the eight named organisations are consultancies that sell AI rollouts to large companies, Britain included, so the money builds a sales channel as much as a skills base. Investors watching Anthropic’s leaked S-1 will recognise the logic.

Where the 10 million AI skills target fits

Google ties its launch to “the UK government’s goal of training 10 million workers in digital skills by 2030.” The government’s own wording is narrower. In January, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology expanded its AI Skills Boost programme to 10 million workers by 2030, up from an earlier 7.5 million, with free courses for every adult. Google is a founding partner; Anthropic is not on the list. “We want AI to work for Britain, and that means ensuring Britons can work with AI,” said Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. The department cited research that only 21% of UK workers feel confident using AI at work.

For schools, the Department for Education’s generative AI guidance, last updated on 12 August 2025, sits alongside separate product safety expectations for AI tools.

What UK teachers and governors should do

• Teachers: sign up through the link in Google’s post if you want the badge, but check your school’s AI policy first. Gemini in Classroom is restricted to users aged 18 and over.
• Want a second opinion? The government’s free AI Skills Boost courses come from several providers, not one.
• Governors and trustees: the NGA toolkit is free, but read it alongside the DfE’s product safety expectations, and ask which tools your school’s data would flow through.

Anthropic’s engineers will spend 12 weeks in residency before they earn a badge. Google’s teachers earn theirs from bite-sized modules, on Google’s tools.