Redefining education in the age of AI
Since 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has been reshaping the pathways of knowledge production and dissemination with unprecedented speed and scope. This transformation extends far beyond changes to classroom formats; it profoundly influences the very essence of education. In a remarkably short period, AI-driven tools have permeated virtually every aspect of the teaching and learning process - from the customisation of personalised learning pathways and automated academic assessments to real-time information retrieval. These technologies are fundamentally altering teachers' workflows and instructional paradigms. Yet, the impact of this innovation is not solely one of convenience. This wave of change compels us to critically reexamine core issues in education: equity of access, the authenticity and integrity of educational content, and the fundamental role of the teacher as a professional. As AI demonstrates the capacity to generate high-quality content efficiently and deliver tailored learning support, a pressing question emerges: What constitutes the core values of human teachers in this new landscape? And how should we redefine our professional identity in the future? To address these critical questions, the Belt and Road Languages and Cultures Network (BRLCN), drawing on its international network, initiated this global survey involving 4,636 educators from over 20 countries and regions. This study aims to identify areas of global consensus and develop and validate a crossculturally applicable model of key competences for global teachers; to reveal variations across groups, providing nuanced profiles for teacher professional development in different national and role-specific contexts; and to diagnose bottlenecks in competency development, offering evidence-based recommendations for education policy and practice interventions. We hope that, by sharing this report, we can engage fellow educators and stakeholders in a collective exploration of the future of education in the age of artificial intelligence - and the boundless possibilities for ongoing professional development in teaching.
Key Findings
This study reveals a global consensus on the key competences for global teachers in the AI era, alongside significant variations among groups and actionable directions for development. The core findings are as follows:
I. Global consensus: A five-dimensional key competence model for teachers
Despite cultural and regional differences, teachers worldwide were asked to select the most essential competences from a list of 15. The collective responses from 4,636 teachers point to a 'five-dimensional key competence model': learning competence, pedagogical competence, empathic competence, innovative competence, and facilitation competence. While there are nuanced differences in emphasis across regions - with overseas teachers placing greater value on digital–intelligence literacy and well-being competence - a weighted global sample analysis reveals that these five competences constitute the broadest common ground of value and form the foundational pillars of teachers' professional worth in the AI era. Deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing, they together construct a dynamic and empowering five-dimensional key competence model for teachers worldwide.
In this model, learning competence serves as the foundation - the meta-competence that enables teachers to engage in all professional activities and remain aligned with contemporary developments. Pedagogical competence and facilitation competence act as the two wings, representing teachers' expertise in knowledge construction and the facilitation of critical thinking, together forming the core of pedagogical practice. Empathic competence constitutes the heart, permeating every teaching interaction as the emotional foundation for building trust, unlocking potential, and achieving holistic educational goals. Innovative competence functions as the driving force, continuously renewing and elevating the other four dimensions, propelling teachers from competence toward excellence and advancing education as a whole. Collectively, these five competences address the central question of our time. As AI takes on the role of knowledge transmission, the irreplaceable value of human teachers lies in higher-order human development - illuminating minds, shaping character, and nurturing hearts. This is the enduring and fundamental essence of education.
II. Group consensus and variations in perceptions
When selecting from 15 competences, learning competence, pedagogical competence, and emphathic competence rank in the top three in the overall global sample, forming a ‘foundational competence triangle’. However, beyond this core triangle, priorities vary in ways that reflect role-specific emphases and disciplinary characteristics:
Cross-cultural differences
Chinese teachers place greater emphasis on the combination of innovative competence and facilitation competence, reflecting strong alignment with national strategic priorities around innovation-driven development and the fundamental task of moral education. In contrast, overseas teachers show stronger concern for digital-intelligence literacy and well-being competence.
Role-based differences
When selecting their five most essential competences, teachers and school administrators show a high degree of alignment, both covering learning competence, pedagogical competence, empathic competence, innovative competence, and facilitation competence. However, teachers prioritise direct classroom interactions, with their selection rates for pedagogical competence and empathic competence ranking the highest among all roles. Teaching supervisors / teacher trainers focus on knowledge integration and adaptation, placing integrative competence among their top five. Educational researchers / scholars emphasise theory generation and validation, listing research competence as one of their five key competences.
Disciplinary differences
In the humanities, social sciences, STEM, arts and physical education, teachers largely agree on the same top five competences: learning, pedagogical, empathic, innovative and facilitation. However, teachers in integrated practice / interdisciplinary studies replace facilitation competence with integrative competence, reflecting the need for knowledge integration in cross-disciplinary teaching. Additionally, STEM teachers select innovative competence at a rate roughly ten percentage points higher than their counterparts in other disciplines.
Generational differences
In the selection of the five key competences, Generation Z teachers (born 1995–2009) show the highest emphasis on the ‘foundational competence triangle’ (learning competence, pedagogical competence, and empathic competence) across all cohorts. This may reflect a tendency among newer educators to strengthen core teaching skills in response to technological uncertainty. Teachers born before 1964, in contrast, show relatively higher selection rates for facilitation competence, which may be associated with their accumulated teaching experience and understanding of the educational process.
III.Current challenges and development needs
1. Teachers identify a systemic closed loop as the primary barrier to competency development: “Heavy daily teaching workload; lack of time and energy for systematic learning” (74.8%) is the most immediate pain point, yet its root causes lie in ”constraints of traditional evaluation and promotion systems ”(57.9%) and “lack of systematic training and institutional support” (53.3%). This underscores that teacher development is fundamentally an ecological issue rather than an individual one. Teachers express the strongest desire for synergistic empowerment through systematic training (66.6%), greater pedagogical autonomy (66.1%) , and reform of evaluation mechanisms (58.8% ) .
2. At the global aggregate level, innovative competence ranks as teachers' top priority for development - a finding that holds true across most disciplines and generational cohorts. Pedagogical competence and research competence also feature among the top three priorities worldwide. Beneath this overall trend, however, certain group-level variations emerge. Overseas teachers and higher education faculty, for instance, both identify digital–intelligence literacy as their foremost development need.
IV. Additional insights and policy implications
1. When selecting their five most essential competences from a list of 15, leadership competence does not rank among the top five in any dimension analysed. This suggests that teachers' self-perception remains largely confined to classroom teachers, with limited extension to roles as enablers within schools or wider communities. Such a perceptual limitation may constrain further expansion of teachers' professional influence. It is therefore recommended that future teacher education and in-service training programmes explicitly incorporate leadership development as a core component, fostering awareness and skills in leading professional growth, enabling peer collaboration, and activating community networks.
2. Teachers generally place less emphasis on cultural communication competence. However, this competence is notably more valued among higher education faculty compared to those in basic education. In the context of deepening glocalization and humanistic exchanges under the Belt and Road Initiative, teachers are expected to serve as key bridges for cultural understanding, mutual learning, and dissemination. It is recommended that cultural communication competence be clearly positioned as a foundational professional competence for all teachers. This should be systematically integrated into both pre-service and in-service training through elements such as cross cultural awareness, interpretation of local cultures, and engagement with global issues. By doing so, teachers will be better equipped to foster students' cultural confidence and global competence.
3. Aesthetic competence is broadly overlooked across all teacher groups, with selection rates ranging from 11.9% to 23.6%. No group has ranked it among its own top five most essential competences. Although arts and physical education teachers attach greater importance to this competence (23.6%) than their counterparts in other disciplines (11.9%–17.2%), even within this group, aesthetic competence does not feature in the top five. In the AI era, the value of aesthetic competence — encompassing sensory perception, emotional experience, and creative expression — for holistic development warrants renewed attention. It is recommended that aesthetic competence be re-positioned as a cross-disciplinary foundational competence, with exploration of feasible pathways for its systematic integration into overall educational design. This may represent an important emerging theme for future education reform.
Since 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has been reshaping the pathways of knowledge production and dissemination with unprecedented speed and scope. This transformation extends far beyond changes to classroom formats; it profoundly influences the very essence of education. In a remarkably short period, AI-driven tools have permeated virtually every aspect of the teaching and learning process - from the customisation of personalised learning pathways and automated academic assessments to real-time information retrieval. These technologies are fundamentally altering teachers' workflows and instructional paradigms. Yet, the impact of this innovation is not solely one of convenience. This wave of change compels us to critically reexamine core issues in education: equity of access, the authenticity and integrity of educational content, and the fundamental role of the teacher as a professional. As AI demonstrates the capacity to generate high-quality content efficiently and deliver tailored learning support, a pressing question emerges: What constitutes the core values of human teachers in this new landscape? And how should we redefine our professional identity in the future? To address these critical questions, the Belt and Road Languages and Cultures Network (BRLCN), drawing on its international network, initiated this global survey involving 4,636 educators from over 20 countries and regions. This study aims to identify areas of global consensus and develop and validate a crossculturally applicable model of key competences for global teachers; to reveal variations across groups, providing nuanced profiles for teacher professional development in different national and role-specific contexts; and to diagnose bottlenecks in competency development, offering evidence-based recommendations for education policy and practice interventions. We hope that, by sharing this report, we can engage fellow educators and stakeholders in a collective exploration of the future of education in the age of artificial intelligence - and the boundless possibilities for ongoing professional development in teaching.
Key Findings
This study reveals a global consensus on the key competences for global teachers in the AI era, alongside significant variations among groups and actionable directions for development. The core findings are as follows:
I. Global consensus: A five-dimensional key competence model for teachers
Despite cultural and regional differences, teachers worldwide were asked to select the most essential competences from a list of 15. The collective responses from 4,636 teachers point to a 'five-dimensional key competence model': learning competence, pedagogical competence, empathic competence, innovative competence, and facilitation competence. While there are nuanced differences in emphasis across regions - with overseas teachers placing greater value on digital–intelligence literacy and well-being competence - a weighted global sample analysis reveals that these five competences constitute the broadest common ground of value and form the foundational pillars of teachers' professional worth in the AI era. Deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing, they together construct a dynamic and empowering five-dimensional key competence model for teachers worldwide.
In this model, learning competence serves as the foundation - the meta-competence that enables teachers to engage in all professional activities and remain aligned with contemporary developments. Pedagogical competence and facilitation competence act as the two wings, representing teachers' expertise in knowledge construction and the facilitation of critical thinking, together forming the core of pedagogical practice. Empathic competence constitutes the heart, permeating every teaching interaction as the emotional foundation for building trust, unlocking potential, and achieving holistic educational goals. Innovative competence functions as the driving force, continuously renewing and elevating the other four dimensions, propelling teachers from competence toward excellence and advancing education as a whole. Collectively, these five competences address the central question of our time. As AI takes on the role of knowledge transmission, the irreplaceable value of human teachers lies in higher-order human development - illuminating minds, shaping character, and nurturing hearts. This is the enduring and fundamental essence of education.
II. Group consensus and variations in perceptions
When selecting from 15 competences, learning competence, pedagogical competence, and emphathic competence rank in the top three in the overall global sample, forming a ‘foundational competence triangle’. However, beyond this core triangle, priorities vary in ways that reflect role-specific emphases and disciplinary characteristics:
Cross-cultural differences
Chinese teachers place greater emphasis on the combination of innovative competence and facilitation competence, reflecting strong alignment with national strategic priorities around innovation-driven development and the fundamental task of moral education. In contrast, overseas teachers show stronger concern for digital-intelligence literacy and well-being competence.
Role-based differences
When selecting their five most essential competences, teachers and school administrators show a high degree of alignment, both covering learning competence, pedagogical competence, empathic competence, innovative competence, and facilitation competence. However, teachers prioritise direct classroom interactions, with their selection rates for pedagogical competence and empathic competence ranking the highest among all roles. Teaching supervisors / teacher trainers focus on knowledge integration and adaptation, placing integrative competence among their top five. Educational researchers / scholars emphasise theory generation and validation, listing research competence as one of their five key competences.
Disciplinary differences
In the humanities, social sciences, STEM, arts and physical education, teachers largely agree on the same top five competences: learning, pedagogical, empathic, innovative and facilitation. However, teachers in integrated practice / interdisciplinary studies replace facilitation competence with integrative competence, reflecting the need for knowledge integration in cross-disciplinary teaching. Additionally, STEM teachers select innovative competence at a rate roughly ten percentage points higher than their counterparts in other disciplines.
Generational differences
In the selection of the five key competences, Generation Z teachers (born 1995–2009) show the highest emphasis on the ‘foundational competence triangle’ (learning competence, pedagogical competence, and empathic competence) across all cohorts. This may reflect a tendency among newer educators to strengthen core teaching skills in response to technological uncertainty. Teachers born before 1964, in contrast, show relatively higher selection rates for facilitation competence, which may be associated with their accumulated teaching experience and understanding of the educational process.
III.Current challenges and development needs
1. Teachers identify a systemic closed loop as the primary barrier to competency development: “Heavy daily teaching workload; lack of time and energy for systematic learning” (74.8%) is the most immediate pain point, yet its root causes lie in ”constraints of traditional evaluation and promotion systems ”(57.9%) and “lack of systematic training and institutional support” (53.3%). This underscores that teacher development is fundamentally an ecological issue rather than an individual one. Teachers express the strongest desire for synergistic empowerment through systematic training (66.6%), greater pedagogical autonomy (66.1%) , and reform of evaluation mechanisms (58.8% ) .
2. At the global aggregate level, innovative competence ranks as teachers' top priority for development - a finding that holds true across most disciplines and generational cohorts. Pedagogical competence and research competence also feature among the top three priorities worldwide. Beneath this overall trend, however, certain group-level variations emerge. Overseas teachers and higher education faculty, for instance, both identify digital–intelligence literacy as their foremost development need.
IV. Additional insights and policy implications
1. When selecting their five most essential competences from a list of 15, leadership competence does not rank among the top five in any dimension analysed. This suggests that teachers' self-perception remains largely confined to classroom teachers, with limited extension to roles as enablers within schools or wider communities. Such a perceptual limitation may constrain further expansion of teachers' professional influence. It is therefore recommended that future teacher education and in-service training programmes explicitly incorporate leadership development as a core component, fostering awareness and skills in leading professional growth, enabling peer collaboration, and activating community networks.
2. Teachers generally place less emphasis on cultural communication competence. However, this competence is notably more valued among higher education faculty compared to those in basic education. In the context of deepening glocalization and humanistic exchanges under the Belt and Road Initiative, teachers are expected to serve as key bridges for cultural understanding, mutual learning, and dissemination. It is recommended that cultural communication competence be clearly positioned as a foundational professional competence for all teachers. This should be systematically integrated into both pre-service and in-service training through elements such as cross cultural awareness, interpretation of local cultures, and engagement with global issues. By doing so, teachers will be better equipped to foster students' cultural confidence and global competence.
3. Aesthetic competence is broadly overlooked across all teacher groups, with selection rates ranging from 11.9% to 23.6%. No group has ranked it among its own top five most essential competences. Although arts and physical education teachers attach greater importance to this competence (23.6%) than their counterparts in other disciplines (11.9%–17.2%), even within this group, aesthetic competence does not feature in the top five. In the AI era, the value of aesthetic competence — encompassing sensory perception, emotional experience, and creative expression — for holistic development warrants renewed attention. It is recommended that aesthetic competence be re-positioned as a cross-disciplinary foundational competence, with exploration of feasible pathways for its systematic integration into overall educational design. This may represent an important emerging theme for future education reform.