Potential Dangers of AI in Teaching: An Ecological Analysis of Teacher Agency
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/tzrs0725Keywords:
Teacher agency; artificial intelligence in education; relational responsibility.Abstract
Drawing on Priestley, Biesta, and Robinson’s ecological approach to teacher agency, and on Biesta and Tedder’s account of agency as an ecological achievement, this paper defines teacher agency not as a personal trait but as something achieved through the interaction of past experience, future orientation, present judgement, and contextual conditions. The paper argues that AI should be understood not merely as a teaching tool, but as an ecological force that can reorganize the material, cultural, structural, and relational conditions of teaching. It identifies three major risks: the displacement of pedagogical judgement, the strengthening of algorithmic authority and performativity, and the weakening of relational responsibility. The paper concludes by proposing ecological mitigation strategies, including preserving final pedagogical authority, ensuring explainability and contestability, adopting anti-surveillance safeguards, developing critical AI literacy, and rebuilding collective professional conditions for teacher agency.
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