Initial Moves: Teachers Navigating AI Integration in a Policy Vacuum

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Algorithms of Power: AI, Policy, and the Future of Education

Abstract

When there is no policy for a new technology like ChatGPT, how do teachers make sense of and negotiate professional jurisdiction over it? Using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with staff members from a diverse urban elementary school, I argue that teachers actively construct professional norms around AI use when policy lags. I introduce the concept of initial moves – defined as the proactive steps teachers take to stake a claim over a new domain of work when formal rules are absent. These initial moves reflect a bottom-up process of forming jurisdictional claims under conditions of institutional ambiguity. Rather than waiting for formal mandates, teachers draw on peer networks and professional identity to shape norms around what constitutes legitimate AI use in teaching.

Author

• Anderson Neal de Andrade, Rutgers University