Towards a Human-AI Collaborative Educational Paradigm: Pathways and Challenges of AI in Empowering Teacher Professional Development

As technology promises ef fi ciency while education demands meaning, how can we ensure that AI genuinely elevates teacher growth and classroom practice? Amid the global wave of arti fi cial intelligence, education in China stands at an unprecedented historical juncture. According to the latest statistics, China ’ s AI education market has surpassed 100 billion yuan, with various intelligent teaching platforms serving over 24 million students. Yet, beneath the fervor of technological innovation, a fundamental question grows increasingly urgent: As AI becomes capable of assuming more repetitive tasks from teachers, what constitutes the essence of education? And how will the core value of teachers be rede fi ned? This special issue of the International Journal of Chinese Education focuses on “ Empowering Primary and Secondary School Teachers through Educational Technology. ” The six in-depth studies in this special issue span diverse themes from technological integration to meaning reconstruction. These studies not only demonstrate the breadth and depth of AI applications in education but, more importantly, converge on a core proposition: In the age of AI, teacher development is no longer merely about skill enhancement