Artificial Intelligence for All? Brazilian Teachers on Ethics, Equity, and the Everyday Challenges of AI in Education

TL;DR

This study explores Brazilian K-12 teachers' perceptions of AI, highlighting their limited AI literacy, enthusiasm for its educational potential, and the structural challenges faced in integrating AI ethically and effectively.

Contribution

It provides empirical data on teachers' AI literacy, attitudes, and infrastructural challenges, emphasizing the need for policies and training for responsible AI adoption in education.

Findings

80.3% of teachers had basic or limited AI knowledge

Most teachers are interested in AI for content creation and personalized learning

Structural challenges include lack of training, technical support, and infrastructure

Abstract

This study examines the perceptions of Brazilian K-12 education teachers regarding the use of AI in education, specifically General Purpose AI. This investigation employs a quantitative analysis approach, extracting information from a questionnaire completed by 346 educators from various regions of Brazil regarding their AI literacy and use. Educators vary in their educational level, years of experience, and type of educational institution. The analysis of the questionnaires shows that although most educators had only basic or limited knowledge of AI (80.3\%), they showed a strong interest in its application, particularly for the creation of interactive content (80.6%), lesson planning (80.2%), and personalized assessment (68.6%). The potential of AI to promote inclusion and personalized learning is also widely recognized (65.5%). The participants emphasized the importance of discussing ethics and digital citizenship, reflecting on technological dependence, biases, transparency, and responsible use of AI, aligning with critical education and the development of conscious students. Despite enthusiasm for the pedagogical potential of AI, significant structural challenges were identified, including a lack of training (43.4%), technical support (41.9%), and limitations of infrastructure, such as low access to computers, reliable Internet connections, and multimedia resources in schools. The study shows that Brazil is still in a bottom-up model for AI integration, missing official curricula to guide its implementation and structured training for teachers and students. Furthermore, effective implementation of AI depends on integrated public policies, adequate teacher training, and equitable access to technology, promoting ethical, inclusive, and contextually grounded adoption of AI in Brazilian K-12 education.