Towards Synergistic Teacher-AI Interactions with Generative Artificial Intelligence

TL;DR

This paper explores the evolving roles of teachers and generative AI in education, proposing a five-level framework for synergistic interactions that enhance collaboration, decision-making, and professional practice.

Contribution

It introduces a novel five-level framework for teacher-AI teaming, emphasizing synergistic collaboration and outlining future directions for ethical and effective integration.

Findings

Identifies five levels of teacher-AI interaction from transactional to synergistic.

Highlights the importance of collaborative decision-making between teachers and AI.

Discusses socio-technical factors for ethical and practical AI integration.

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly used in education, posing significant challenges for teachers adapting to these changes. GenAI offers unprecedented opportunities for accessibility, scalability and productivity in educational tasks. However, the automation of teaching tasks through GenAI raises concerns about reduced teacher agency, potential cognitive atrophy, and the broader deprofessionalisation of teaching. Drawing findings from prior literature on AI in Education, and refining through a recent systematic literature review, this chapter presents a conceptualisation of five levels of teacher-AI teaming: transactional, situational, operational, praxical and synergistic teaming. The framework aims to capture the nuanced dynamics of teacher-AI interactions, particularly with GenAI, that may lead to the replacement, complementarity, or augmentation of teachers' competences and professional practice. GenAI technological affordances required in supporting teaming, along with empirical studies, are discussed. Drawing on empirical observations, we outline a future vision that moves beyond individual teacher agency toward collaborative decision-making between teachers and AI, in which both agents engage in negotiation, constructive challenge, and co-reasoning that enhance each other's capabilities and enable outcomes neither could realise independently. Further discussion of socio-technical factors beyond teacher-AI teaming is also included to streamline the synergy of teachers and AI in education ethically and practically.