Reconstructing Ethical Readiness for ChatGPT Integration in Pre-Service Teacher Education
Keywords:
Pre-service teachers; ChatGPT; generative AI; ethical literacy; teacher education; diffusion of innovationAbstract
Generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT are increasingly present in teacher education, yet limited research has examined how pre-service teachers construct ethical readiness while integrating such technologies into academically significant practices. This study investigates how final-year pre-service teachers negotiate ChatGPT use through ethical, pedagogical, and professional reflection during teacher preparation. Guided by an ethical-reflective adaptation of the diffusion of innovation theory, this qualitative case study involved 12 final-year pre-service teachers from a teacher education faculty in Indonesia. Data were collected through reflective journals, semi-structured interviews, and field notes, and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis integrated with innovation adoption stages. Findings indicate that participants’ engagement with ChatGPT extended beyond functional experimentation to include emerging negotiation of authorship, academic integrity, and pedagogical responsibility across stages of awareness, interest, decision, trial, confirmation, and advocacy. While participants identified practical benefits such as idea generation, reflective writing support, and pedagogical assistance, they also expressed concerns regarding overdependence, bias, and ethical misuse. The study contributes by reframing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in teacher education as an ethical-reflective developmental process, highlighting ethical readiness as a meaningful dimension of pre-service teachers’ engagement with generative AI.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.25.6.12
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