From digital competence to AI-responsive pedagogy: a scoping review of technology-supported teacher education

Abstract

Digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping teacher education faster than many programmes can pedagogically respond. This scoping review examined how digital technologies are incorporated into teacher education, the advantages and barriers associated with these approaches, and how recent AI-focused research may help reinterpret persistent challenges. Two analytically distinct Scopus-derived subsets were analysed. The RQ1/RQ2 subset comprised 155 studies on digitally supported teacher education, while the RQ3 subset included 40 AI-focused studies, yielding an overall evidence base of 195 publications. Data charting combined primary-category coding, descriptive frequency analysis, cross-category synthesis, and multi-label coding for the AI-focused evidence. Within the RQ1/RQ2 subset, competence and ICT-integration frameworks were the most frequent strategy (46.5%). Digital competence development was the most frequently reported advantage (76.1%), whereas infrastructure and access represented the main barrier (45.2%). In the AI subset, professional development and teacher accompaniment (35.0%) and instructional design and assessment (32.5%) were the predominant approaches. Across both evidence streams, technological affordances became educationally meaningful when mediated by pedagogical design, disciplinary knowledge, critical and ethical judgement, human oversight, professional agency, and institutional support. The findings support an AI-responsive approach to teacher education that emphasises pedagogically justified and professionally accountable AI use rather than tool adoption alone.