The Impact of AI on Primary School Teachers' TPACK Transformation Challenges in the Chinese Education Context

Existing research on artificial intelligence (AI) in education largely relies on general technology adoption frameworks and higher education contexts, offering limited empirical insight into AI-driven TPACK transformation in primary schools. The study aims to examine how AI use influences the interactions among technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) of primary school teachers and to explore teachers’ perceptions of the transformative and constraining effects of AI on pedagogical practice. A mixed-methods design was employed, combining a survey and semi-structured interviews. Survey data were collected from 500 primary school teachers across 50 schools that had implemented AI-supported instruction, while 50 teachers were purposively selected for in-depth interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression; qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The survey findings indicated moderate to high levels of AI-driven TPACK, with AI-technological pedagogical knowledge emerging as the strongest predictor of integrated TPACK-AI transformation. The qualitative findings revealed that teachers perceive AI as enhancing lesson design, differentiation, and content representation, while also introducing pedagogical constraints related to ethical concerns, developmental appropriateness, and classroom management. This study extends the literature by empirically positioning AI not just as a tool to adopt, but as a pedagogical co-actor that shifts what counts as competent integration at the TPACK intersection, especially under primary-school constraints.