Critical AI Literacy as a Core Competence of Digital Citizenship: Student Teachers’ Perspectives in Australia and Germany
Cologne International Forum Innovative Tandem Collaboration: 1 October 2025 - 30 September 2026
Dr. Ying Neoh (University of Sydney, Australia)
Dr. Silke Marchand (LfbA, Department für Erziehungs- und Sozialwissenschaften)
Abstract
This project explores how student teachers in Australia and Germany engage with artificial intelligence (AI) in their teacher education programs. It investigates their attitudes, experiences, and readiness to use AI in teaching, with attention to the ethical and pedagogical challenges that arise.
By comparing contexts at the University of Sydney and the University of Cologne, the study aims to deepen understanding of how future educators learn to navigate and critically use AI in classrooms. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research focuses on how student teachers interact with AI during coursework and field placements, and how these experiences shape their developing professional identities and conceptions of teaching in an AI-mediated world.
Dr Jia Ying Neoh
Dr Jia Ying Neoh is a Lecturer at the University of Sydney with expertise in citizenship education and Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) Education. Her research investigates how teachers prepare young citizens through curriculum and pedagogy, particularly in contexts shaped by cultural diversity, democratic values, and digital transformation.
Her current research focus examines the civic and pedagogical implications of artificial intelligence in education. She is especially interested in how AI technologies are influencing conceptions of digital citizenship and reshaping teacher practice across educational systems.
Dr Neoh adopts a comparative and international lens in her work, exploring the interplay between global principles and local contexts in citizenship education. She is committed to fostering inclusive, critically engaged, and future-oriented approaches to civic and citizenship education in an increasingly technology-driven and interconnected society.
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