How might we support teachers with training and guardrails to shift from uncertainty to confidence in identifying effective use cases and AI tools?
One challenge in education today is: In most countries, teachers tend to gain their knowledge of AI informally, which often results in misconceptions and fragmented understanding (UNESCO, 2025), increasing the risk that AI will be misused or its benefits unfairly distributed.
Each week, we are spotlighting a section of the framework, showing how early signals of change inform it, so that we can share progress and invite reflection on its development. This week, we’re charting how education systems are empowering teachers with training and guardrails.
Early signals
Adapting UNESCO’s holistic framework to national contexts
Research highlights holistic teacher AI literacy – technical, ethical, and critical skills – as central to meaningful AI use in education (Iryna, 2025; Long and Magerko, 2020; Ng et al., 2021). UNESCO is leading efforts to support countries in developing national AI competency frameworks that reflect this holistic approach.
- Global – UNESCO AI Competency Framework for Teachers: Sets out 15 competencies across five dimensions: mindset, ethics, AI foundations, pedagogy, and professional learning. (UNESCO, 2024)
- Global – UNESCO Digital competencies for teachers and school students in Member States of the G77+China: UNESCO is facilitating South-South cooperation and the development and implementation of national digital and AI competency frameworks or programmes, based on the UNESCO frameworks. (UNESCO, 2024)
Peer-learning as a tool for developing AI literacy
In line with recent recommendations from the UNESCO Teacher Task Force (Teacher Task Force, 2025), we’re seeing peer learning networks and Communities of Practice (CoPs) utilised for ongoing AI-related professional development.
- Asia-Europe – ASEFClassNet: Recognised by UNESCO as a leading example for teachers’ AI competency building, the ASEFClassNet School Collaboration Project connects teachers from Asia and Europe to co-develop projects that embed AI literacy and responsible use of digital tools directly into classroom practice. (ASEFClassNet, 2025)
- 18 countries, including LMICs – AI Roundtable for Teacher Educators: The British Council supported CoPs where teacher educators explored AI’s potential, reporting significant progress in understanding AI tools and gaining confidence in their pedagogical implications. (Peachey, N., British Council, 2025)
AI use in professional development and coaching
To address barriers to effective teacher professional development (TPD) and coaching in LMICs, AI-mediated solutions are being piloted and scaled. AI can make TPD more adaptive, targeted, and practical. (Frontier Tech Hub, 2025; Demszky et al., 2023; Cukurova et al., 2024).
- Sierra Leone – TheTeacher.AI: An AI-powered chatbot developed by Fab Inc. and deployed via WhatsApp to support teachers with on-demand professional development support through chatting, proving to be remarkably cost-effective, primarily due to lower mobile data transfer requirements. (TheTeacher.AI)
- India – ConveGenius’s TPD Bot: A scalable, mobile-first platform designed to enhance teacher training. In partnership with Cambridge University, it provides globally accredited content tailored to local contexts, benefiting over 33,000 teachers across 12 districts. (ConveGenius)
Reflections:
- There are remarkably few examples of using AI to improve the effectiveness and implementation of teacher professional development (TPD) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with most of the discussions on the topic relating to the new AI skills and competencies that teachers need to acquire through TPD.
- Challenges that exist with tech-mediated teacher support in LMICs such as limited internet connectivity, unreliable electricity, lack of devices, and low digital literacy levels need to be addressed for AI use cases to be effective.
- To help teachers build confidence, professional development needs to emphasise understanding AI strengths, limitations, biases, and socio-ethical implications, enabling teachers to critically evaluate AI outputs and maintain their professional judgment.
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We’d love to hear from you! What’s been shaping your thinking on AI? Drop your thoughts (and reading recommendations) in the comments. Explore more from EdTech Hub’s AI Observatory.
EdTech Hub’s AI Observatory is made possible with the support of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
