Paper Details

The study explores how in-service teachers experience the growing use of AI tools in lesson planning, an area that remains insufficiently understood. Using a qualitative approach, open-ended questionnaires were collected from 15 secondary and higher secondary teachers across different subjects, and the responses were analysed thematically. Five themes emerged: AI as a limited assistant, the irreplaceable role of the teacher, challenges in prompting and usability, perceived cognitive shortcomings of AI, and the user’s learning curve. Teachers appreciated AI’s ability to reduce workload and assist with initial drafting, but emphasized that human judgment is essential for contextual accuracy, creativity, and meeting learner needs. Difficulties such as generic or culturally mismatched outputs, factual errors, and the need for strong prompting skills slowed adoption. The study concludes that professional development, context-aware AI design, and informed policy support are necessary to ensure AI strengthens rather than weakens teacher autonomy and instructional quality.

In-service teachers, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education, Lesson planning, Teacher perceptions, Thematic analysis