The Future of Education
Opportunities, Challenges, and Ways Forward in Teachers’ AI Adoption for their Professional Development: Principals’ Leadership Perspective
Nazir Jogezai, Higher School of Economics, Institute of Education, Laboratory for Educational Innovation Research, Moscow (Russian Federation)
Abstract
The advent of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), a large language model (LLM) based AI including chatbots that generate text responses to user queries, feedback, and prompts [1], has prompted interest in school education [2,3]. There has been a prominent debate on GAI’s pros and cons for teaching and learning. Some (e.g., [4,5] term GAI as having shortcomings for learners’ critical thinking as they provide ready-made solutions with less to think about and produce. Others (e.g., [6-8], on the other hand, term it a useful tool with the capability to expand learning spaces and facilitate learners in their personalized, self-faced, and need-based learning options. This very dimension of GAI can help schools facilitate teachers’ professional development (PD) [9]. Consequently, GAI has implications for school leadership as they remain the catalysts for educational transformation and agents of change [10, 11] and can comprehend and enable effective GAI integration in teachers’ PD. They can offer a comprehensive assessment of GAI's compatibility with teachers’ PD needs. This very alignment, according to [12], can make GAI very relevant for teachers' PD. The previous research , for example, [13, 14], also recognizes principals as having a key role in teachers’ use of innovative technologies, such as GAI, by providing resources and technical support to supplement their professional growth. However, in the meantime, they can confront challenges while implementing GAI in teacher PD, as any school-level intervention is a complex process that tests principals’ leadership capabilities [15]. Principals with a comprehension of AI use for teachers can also anticipate the prominent opportunities and challenges GAI may offer for teachers’ PD. Research with regard to principals' comprehension of GAI use for teachers’ PD and the challenges and opportunities they confront has been limited. To bridge the gap, this study aimed to explore principals’ understanding of the relationship between GAI and teachers' PD, the challenges and opportunities associated with GAI use of teachers' PD, and the way forward they propose to overcome challenges. This qualitative study, within the interpretivist paradigm [16], used semi-structured interviews to collect data from purposefully selected 30 school principals. The data analysis was performed using thematic analysis [17]. The study has the following research questions:
- What is school principals’ understanding of GAI use in teachers’ PD?
- What challenges and opportunities do school principals associate with the use of GAI by teachers’ for their PD?
- What way forward do the principals propose to overcome challenges associated with the use of AI for teachers’ PD?
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Keywords |
Generative AI, Leadership, School principals, Teachers, Professional development. |
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References |
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