TITLE:
Teaching in the Age of Chatbots: Reimagining Teacher Skills for the AI Classroom
AUTHORS:
Salmon Oliech Owidi, Lucy Ogol
KEYWORDS:
AI Literacy, Teacher Professional Development, Generative AI, Digital Pedagogy, Ethical AI, Teacher Agency, TPACK
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.7,
July
27,
2026
ABSTRACT: This paper examines the reshaping of teacher competencies in response to artificial intelligence integration in contemporary classrooms. As generative AI, intelligent tutoring systems, and learning analytics become increasingly embedded in educational practice, teachers must develop new digital, pedagogical, and ethical capabilities that extend beyond traditional information and communication technology skills. Employing a qualitative review of peer-reviewed literature published between 2020 and 2025 alongside thematic analysis of global educational trends, this study identifies three core skill domains essential for effective teaching in AI-mediated environments: AI literacy, AI-supported pedagogy, and ethical-professional judgment within algorithmic systems. The findings reveal that although AI offers transformative opportunities for personalized learning and instructional efficiency, a significant majority of teachers lack adequate preparation, institutional support, and professional confidence to integrate AI tools meaningfully into their practice. This paper concludes that teacher professional development must undergo a fundamental shift from episodic, tool-focused ICT training toward continuous, competency-based, and practice-oriented AI capacity building. Recommendations include the development of national AI in education frameworks, the implementation of teacher-AI collaboration models that preserve professional agency, and the systematic integration of AI literacy across both pre-service and in-service teacher education curricula.