Analyzing the Foundations of Social Sustainability in Teacher Education: A Study of Self-Regulation, Social-Emotional Expertise, and AI-TPACK

Merve Şahin ()
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Merve Şahin: Bayramiç Vocational School, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale 17700, Türkiye

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 19, 1-22

Abstract: The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into education is a defining challenge for achieving a sustainable digital future. This study addresses this challenge by exploring the psychological foundations necessary for teacher readiness, framing this preparation as a matter of social sustainability for the teaching profession. Employing a correlational research design, this study investigates the relationships among key psychological constructs as perceived by pre-service educators. Specifically, it examines how pre-service preschool teachers’ self-reported levels of self-regulation and social-emotional expertise relate to their self-assessed AI—Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (AI-TPACK). The findings were revealing: multiple linear regression analyses confirmed perceived self-regulation as a robust predictor of the self-assessed core and composite knowledge elements of AI-TPACK. Counterintuitively, social-emotional expertise did not show a significant correlation with any aspect of AI-TPACK. This suggests that the metacognitive skills inherent in self-regulation are fundamental for empowering educators to engage in the lifelong learning required for a sustainable career. Therefore, teacher education programs must strategically cultivate these skills to foster a resilient teaching workforce, capable of ethically shaping the future of AI in inclusive and sustainable learning environments.

Keywords: AI-TPACK; preschool teacher education; self-regulation; social-emotional expertise; social sustainability; sustainable pedagogy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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