EDUCATION AND COMPETENCIES IN OWERRI EDUCATION ZONE ONE OF IMO STATE

Abstract

This study is on Assessing the Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Teacher Education 
and Competencies in Owerri Education Zone One of Imo State. The study was guided by 
four research questions. Owerri Education Zone One is comprised of three Local 
Government Areas which are; Owerri Municipal, Owerri North and Owerri West. The 
population of this study is comprised of all secondary school teachers in Public Secondary 
Schools in Owerri Education Zone One, Imo State. The population of teachers in Public 
Secondary Schools in Owerri Zone 1 is comprised of 1102 teachers. Purposive sampling 
technique was used to select 4 schools of both Junior Secondary Schools and Senior 
Secondary Schools from each Local Government Area in Owerri Zone 1. The sample 
comprised of 300 teachers in Owerri Zone One. Simple proportionate random sampling 
technique was used in selecting 75 teachers from each of the LGA.  The instrument for 
data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Artificial Intelligence on Teacher 
Education and Competencies Questionnaire (AITECQ).” The reliability of the instrument 
was established using Cronbach alpha coefficient which yielded an index of 0.96. Data 
collected was and analysed using mean and standard deviation. The findings show that 
teachers in Owerri Zone One have little or no idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the ntegration of teacher education. Hence, the current teacher education curriculum does 
not incorporate AI-related topics or skills, leaving teachers unprepared to leverage AI in 
their teaching practices. The findings also show that teachers are not familiar with AI
powered educational tools. The study recommended that Government should develop and 
implement comprehensive training programmes for teachers to enhance their AI-infused 
pedagogical skills and build their confidence in using AI tools.