Ethical principles of AI in education: Exploring teachers’ contextual ethical reasoning through an STS lens

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in education (AIED) promises significant pedagogical transformations. However, it also raises concerns that have intensified global discourse on the ethical principles guiding its design and use. Despite this growing discourse, limited empirical evidence exists from the Global South, where little is known about how teachers in low-resource contexts conceptualize AI ethical principles. Addressing this gap, this study investigates in-service secondary school STEAM teachers’ conceptual understanding of Ethical Principles of AI in Education (EPAI-Ed). Guided by Socio-Technical Systems (STS) Theory, a two-stage qualitative design was adopted. Participants engaged in think-aloud (TA) protocols (n = 30) and follow-up semi-structured interviews (n = 10). Data were analysed using sentiment coding and reflexive thematic analysis. Findings reveal that, despite lacking formal training on AI ethics, teachers are not “ethics empty.” Instead, they rely on common sense and professional experience-based ethical reasoning shaped by professional identities, classroom realities, cultural norms, and contextual vulnerabilities to conceptualize and practice responsible AIED. This study provides novel insights into teachers’ ethical reasoning in low-resource contexts, addressing a critical gap in global AIED discourse. It also used the STS theory as an interpretive lens to explain how ethical reasoning co-emerges with socio-technical constraints. The findings offer practical implications for aligning teachers’ context-based ethical beliefs with global frameworks to mitigate AIED-related risks in educational spaces.