ChatGPT for Teachers is a separate, self-serve version of ChatGPT that OpenAI says is free through June 2028 for verified U.S. K-12 educators. It's for teachers, school staff, school leaders and district administrators at an accredited U.S. school or district, and it isn't for students.
So if you teach in the UK, Australia or anywhere outside the U.S., this plan isn't open to you, and if you're a student, it was never meant for you. For everyone else, here's what OpenAI's own help page says about qualifying, setting up a workspace and how data is handled, as of Nov 2026.
Is it free, and for how long?
Free, yes, but with an end date. OpenAI says the plan is free through June 2028. After that, its words are that it may introduce or adjust pricing, with the goal of keeping the plan affordable for educators, and it'll give advance notice consistent with its terms if pricing changes. Nobody should promise you it stays free after June 2028. Build your plans around the date, not the hope.
Who can and can't use it
| Can use it | Can't use it |
|---|---|
| Teachers at an accredited U.S. K-12 school or district | Students |
| School staff members | Educators outside the U.S. |
| School leaders | Educators from a different district joining your workspace |
| District administrators | University staff, who'd look at ChatGPT Edu instead |
Each workspace is limited to verified educators within the same district, so you can't pool colleagues from two districts into one. For universities, OpenAI points to ChatGPT Edu, which I've written up separately in my guide to ChatGPT Edu.
Set up a Teachers workspace
As of Nov 2026, OpenAI's steps are:
- Go to the educator verification page.
- Sign in, or create a ChatGPT account, using your school or district email address.
- Complete educator verification using that same email address.
- Once you're returned to the verification page in ChatGPT, select Create a new workspace or Create workspace. If you aren't sent back automatically, or verification finishes later, reopen the page and sign in with the same account.
- Enter a workspace name.
- Review the Teacher Access Terms and the Student Data Privacy Agreement, tick the agreement box, then select Agree and Continue.
- Follow the onboarding prompts to set your role, subjects and grade levels.
If your school or district already has a Teachers workspace, you don't need to make another. Select it when it's offered and follow the prompts to join or request access, or ask a workspace owner or admin to send an invitation to your school email address.
If verification throws an error
The error OpenAI calls out by name is "Unknown error" when you submit verification documents. Its fix is simple and easy to overlook: open the verification page in another browser, use the same ChatGPT account and the same sign-in method, and submit again. If errors continue, or you can't verify at all, contact OpenAI Support through the chat bubble in the Help Center.
What's included
OpenAI says the plan includes its flagship model, plus teacher-specific onboarding, prompts and recommended use cases. The feature list:
| Included | What it's for |
|---|---|
| File uploads, file search, apps and data analysis | Working with your own materials and data |
| Web search and deep research, where available | Finding and exploring information |
| Voice mode, image generation and memory | Different ways to work and more personal answers |
| Shared projects and collaboration features | Working with colleagues |
| ChatGPT Work | Completing longer tasks |
| Plugins | Adding tools and reusable workflows |
| Sites | Creating and sharing websites and lightweight apps |
| Space | Creating, organising and sharing pages |
If you're after ready-made ideas for lesson planning and marking, I've collected ChatGPT prompts that save teachers time on a separate page.
What the district admin controls
Workspace owners and admins manage members, roles and workspace settings. The admin tools OpenAI lists are single sign-on (SSO), role-based access controls, domain claiming and analytics. Two of these deserve a careful read before anyone clicks.
Domain claiming. A district admin can request a domain claim to bring educators into a district-managed workspace. It's separate from domain verification and isn't required for SCIM directory sync. The catch: a claim can direct everyone with a matching email address to the claimed workspace, and can make other ChatGPT for Teachers workspaces using that domain inaccessible. If a few teachers set up their own workspace early, a claim could cut them off from it. OpenAI's advice is to review these effects with your school or district before you request one.
SCIM staff sync. Eligible K-12 district tenants can use tenant-wide SCIM to sync staff groups from an identity provider. OpenAI suggests starting with a small pilot group and excluding student accounts and student groups. Here's what IT teams miss: selecting staff groups for SCIM doesn't restrict the other ways people can join, such as direct invitations and domain-based joining. Review those separately, and test with an account that shouldn't have access to confirm it can't get in another way.
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Student data and training
OpenAI says the plan includes FERPA-aligned protections and a student data privacy agreement. As with its other Business customers, information shared with ChatGPT for Teachers isn't used to train its models by default, though OpenAI may use automated systems to classify content for safety and quality.
Access to stored conversations is limited to authorised employees who need it for engineering support, investigating potential platform abuse and legal compliance, and to specialised third-party contractors bound by confidentiality and security obligations, solely to review for abuse and misuse. That's what the page says; whether it meets your own district's rules is a call for your district. For how ordinary ChatGPT handles your data, see what ChatGPT keeps and what to switch off.
Districts with complex needs, such as data residency or Enterprise Key Management (EKM), are told to contact OpenAI's sales team. If you also work with a charity, OpenAI runs a separate offer covered in ChatGPT for nonprofits.
What I'd do
I'd have the district sort the workspace first, so teachers aren't building their own and then losing them to a domain claim. I'd skip pasting student names or records into any chat until I'd read the Student Data Privacy Agreement myself. And I'd put June 2028 in the diary now, because that's when OpenAI says pricing may change. Plans and features change often, so check OpenAI's own help page for the latest.
If your school or training team wants to use AI with confidence and clear rules, that's the kind of AI training I run. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Frequently asked questions
Is ChatGPT for Teachers free?
Yes, through June 2028 for verified U.S. K-12 educators. After that OpenAI says it may introduce or adjust pricing, with advance notice.
Can students use ChatGPT for Teachers?
No. OpenAI says the plan isn't for students, and each workspace is limited to verified educators within the same district.
Can teachers outside the U.S. use ChatGPT for Teachers?
No. Eligibility requires working for an accredited U.S. K-12 school or district.
What do I do about an Unknown error during verification?
Open the verification page in another browser, use the same ChatGPT account and sign-in method, and retry. If it continues, contact OpenAI Support through the Help Center chat bubble.
Is student data used to train ChatGPT for Teachers?
OpenAI says information shared with ChatGPT for Teachers isn't used to train its models by default, though automated systems may classify content for safety and quality.
