Teacher Agency in AI-Supported Curriculum Enactment in Türkiye: A Qualitative Metasynthesis

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, has produced a fragmented literature on how teachers use these technologies in professional practice. This qualitative metasynthesis examined how in-service teachers in Türkiye experience and negotiate AI-supported pedagogical work. National database and repository searches were supplemented by international and targeted retrieval, yielding 43 studies involving 904 in-service teachers. Thematic synthesis generated six descriptive themes and four higher-order analytical themes. Teachers reported that AI supported planning, materials development, differentiation, assessment, access to information, and professional learning, although these benefits remained dependent on professional judgement. Perceived efficiency gains were accompanied by new demands for verification, adaptation, and learning, as well as concerns about accuracy, cognitive dependence, academic integrity, privacy, equity, and human relationships. Teacher agency was reconfigured through selective pedagogical mediation involving selection, verification, adaptation, and boundary-setting. Responsible integration also depended on ecosystem capacity, including professional learning, infrastructure, governance, ethical safeguards, and equitable access. The synthesis conceptualizes the teacher–AI relationship as a conditional pedagogical partnership in which AI broadens pedagogical possibilities while educational legitimacy remains dependent on human judgement and supportive institutional conditions.