From School AI Readiness to Student AI Literacy: A National Multilevel Mediation Analysis of Institutional Capacity and Teacher Capability

TL;DR

This study investigates how school-level AI readiness influences student AI literacy through teacher capabilities, using nationwide data and multilevel models to reveal the importance of organizational and teacher factors in AI education.

Contribution

It introduces a multilevel mediation framework linking institutional AI readiness, teacher capabilities, and student literacy, highlighting the central role of collective teacher capacity.

Findings

School AI readiness positively correlates with student AI literacy.

Teacher-perceived AI capability mediates the readiness-literacy relationship.

Readiness effects are stable across diverse regional AI development contexts.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded in vocational education systems, yet empirical evidence linking institutional AI readiness to student learning outcomes remains limited. This study develops and tests a 2-2-1 cross-level mediation framework examining how school-level AI readiness is associated with student AI literacy through aggregated teacher mechanisms. Using linked survey data from 1,007 vocational institutions, 156,125 teachers, and 2,379,546 students nationwide, multilevel models were estimated to assess direct, indirect, and contextual effects. Results indicate that overall school AI readiness is positively associated with student AI literacy after adjusting for institutional and regional characteristics. When examined independently, all readiness dimensions show positive associations, while simultaneous modelling suggests that readiness operates as an integrated organisational configuration. Cross-level mediation analyses reveal that aggregated teacher-perceived AI capability partially mediates the relationship between institutional readiness and student literacy, whereas general attitudinal acceptance measures do not demonstrate stable transmission effects. Robustness analyses further show that this readiness-capability-literacy pathway remains structurally stable across heterogeneous regional AI development contexts and under alternative modelling specifications. These findings reposition institutional AI readiness as a multilevel organisational condition linked to student AI literacy, identify collective teacher capability as its central transmission mechanism, and underscore the need to align infrastructural investment with sustained professional capacity development.