Quality Teaching in the Age of AI: Shining Glory of Humanity in Teaching Profession

The expectations for teachers are high, and they keep rising each day. We expect teachers to have a deep and broad understanding of what they teach, who they teach, and how students learn, because what teachers know and care about makes such a difference to student learning (Schleicher, 2017).

But we expect much more than what we put into the job descriptions of teachers. We expect teachers to be passionate, compassionate, and thoughtful; to make learning central and encourage students’ engagement and responsibility; to respond effectively to students of different needs, backgrounds, and languages; to promote tolerance and social cohesion; to provide continual assessments of students and feedback; and to ensure that students feel valued and included and that learning is collaborative. We expect teachers themselves to collaborate and work in teams and with other schools and parents, to set common goals, and plan and monitor the attainment of goals (Schleicher, 2015).

Not least, students are unlikely to become lifelong learners if they do not see their teachers as active lifelong learners, willing to extend their horizon and question the established wisdom of their times.

Teachers of today's “connected” learners must also meet the challenges that have arisen from AI and digitization, from information overload to plagiarism, from protecting children from online risks, such as fraud, violations of privacy, or online bullying, to setting an adequate and appropriate media diet for their students. They are expected to help educate children to become critical consumers of Internet services and electronic media, to make informed choices and avoid harmful behaviors (Schleicher, 2018).

Looking forward, AI will reshape opportunities. Teachers need to be creative and innovative. This is because the digital transformation is not primarily about who has the best technology, but about who is most imaginative about what teaching and learning can be when powered by technology. AI helps unbundle educational content, delivery, and accreditation, and it can liberate billions of learners from pursuing expensive degrees to take ownership over what they learn, how they learn, where they learn, and when in their lives it works best for them to learn (Zhong & Zhao, 2025). However, humans have always been better at inventing new tools than at using them wisely, and we need to keep in mind that AI is not a magic power. AI is just an amazing accelerator and an incredible amplifier. It amplifies good ideas and good educational practice in the same way it amplifies bad ideas and bad practice. AI can help us make education more inclusive by making learning much more accessible and better adaptive to the different needs of learners, but the pandemic has also shown how technology can amplify almost any form of inequity in education. AI can super-empower teachers as designers of innovative learning experiences. Or it can disempower them to become slaves of scripted lesson plans or algorithms they no longer understand. AI can help us reduce human bias through better data and analytics, but it can also amplify and entrench bias. AI can connect us across geographic, linguistic, or cultural boundaries, but it can also sort us into echo-chambers that amplify our own views and insulate us from divergent thinking. AI is ethically neutral, but it is always in the hands of people who are not neutral, teachers included.

But there is more. Teachers need a strong capacity for social and emotional skills. Most successful people had at least one teacher who made a real difference in their life—because the teacher acted as a role model, or took a genuine interest in the student's welfare and future, or provided emotional support when the student needed it. These aspects of teaching are difficult to compare and quantify, but designing a work organization and support culture that nurtures these qualities will go a long way toward ensuring that every student succeeds (Collie, 2025).

Finally, teachers need professional wisdom to navigate the complexity of the often unpredictable and sometimes chaotic realities of classrooms, where students have diverse needs and abilities, resources are limited, time is constrained, and numerous day-to-day challenges arise. They need a deep understanding of both content and pedagogical strategies informed by research, but also adaptability, creativity, and responsiveness. All this may make teaching look more like an art and craft, but it is also a science. And strengthening the science of teaching is the most promising path to make good ideas become good teaching practice, and ultimately to have good teaching practice become a shared teaching culture (Schleicher, 2015).

Takeaway Message

Teachers today must integrate deep pedagogical knowledge with strong social–emotional skills to support diverse learners and foster inclusive, collaborative classrooms.