PEDAGOGICAL CONDITIONS FOR DEVELOPING AI LITERACY IN PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of developing AI literacy among pre-service teachers in higher education. The relevance of the study is determined by the expanding use of artificial intelligence in educational settings and by the need to prepare future teachers for the meaningful, critical, and pedagogically appropriate use of AI tools in their professional practice. The purpose of the study was to theoretically substantiate and empirically test the pedagogical conditions for developing AI literacy of pre-service teachers at the university level. The study was designed as a quasi-experiment and conducted according to a pre-test/post-test scheme involving experimental and control groups. The participants were 120 students enrolled in teacher education programs at one of the universities in Almaty. The formative intervention was implemented during the first semester of the 2025–2026 academic year in the format of an elective course on AI tools with a workload of two hours per week. Data were collected using an author-designed questionnaire aimed at identifying the components of AI literacy and a practice-oriented task assessed by experts. The findings showed that positive changes across all analyzed indicators were more pronounced in the experimental group than in the control group. The most noticeable improvements were identified in the use of AI for solving pedagogical tasks, the quality of prompt formulation, and the selection and critical evaluation of generated content. It was concluded that the effectiveness of developing AI literacy among pre-service teachers is determined not only by access to AI tools but also by specially organized pedagogical conditions, including the integration of AI into professionally significant tasks, the development of a critical and reflective attitude toward generated outputs, and reliance on practice-oriented forms of learning. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using its findings to update the content of teacher education.