Takut Tambah Dewasa: Ilusi Kompetensi Mahasiswa Keguruan di Tengah Grade Inflation dan Ketergantungan terhadap AI

This study examines how pre-service teacher education students experience and make sense of an illusion of competence amid grade inflation and dependence on artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education. Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA), data were collected through semi-structured interviews with students who met the criteria of being active in a teaching program (minimum fifth semester), having informal teaching experience, and using AI regularly in academic work. Interviews were processed using intelligent verbatim and partial transcription before undergoing the six phases of RTA. Findings show that participants rarely gained deeper understanding or skill improvement from completing assignments, largely due to cognitive offloading to AI. Participants also perceived that high grades did not necessarily reflect genuine competence, a pattern linked to grade inflation driven by institutional accreditation pressures. This gap between academic achievement and felt competence generated anxiety about readiness to enter the teaching profession. The study contributes a novel integration of two previously separate phenomena, grade inflation and AI dependence, in explaining how illusions of competence are constructed among pre-service teachers.