Preservice life sciences teachers’ readiness for AI integration in teaching across varying socioeconomic contexts

In this study we investigated how socio-economic conditions shape South African pre-service Life Sciences teachers’ epistemic self-efficacy and perceived agency in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into science education. Drawing on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with ten final-year education students, we explored how practicum experiences across the school quintile system, reflecting entrenched resource disparities, influence conceptions of AI readiness. The findings reveal marked differences: participants placed in high-quintile schools reported greater confidence and technological exposure, while those from low-quintile schools expressed uncertainty, infrastructural constraints, and ethical concerns about equity and learner access. These patterns suggest that AI integration, if pursued without attention to contextual inequality, may inadvertently reproduce educational injustices. By foregrounding the intersection of socio-economic context, epistemic agency, and technological access, our findings contribute to a growing body of work interrogating the ethics and equity of AI in education. We call for justice-oriented teacher education that empowers pre-service teachers across diverse contexts to engage critically and confidently with AI, thereby supporting the goals of inclusive, innovative, and equitable education as envisioned in Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 9.