Integrating Artificial Intelligence in curricular design from pre-service teachers' perspectives: The role of pedagogical competence

Generative artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly integrated into modern life, including education, where both students and teachers use it in various ways. This raises important questions about future educators' preparedness to utilize GenAI in key tasks like curricular design. Our research focused on the perspectives of future teachers regarding GenAI's role in educational pathways, conducted at the University of Verona within the primary teacher education program. Participants, during a course on "Active Methodologies and Didactic Technologies," designed an educational unit using GenAI tools (Eduaide.ai or Magic School AI) and reflected on the experience. Qualitative analysis revealed that while students actively engaged in quality control and structure organization using GenAI, they often found the process challenging. They recognized the importance of good prompting and believed pedagogical competence was essential to adapt activities to real-world contexts. The findings emphasize the need for teacher involvement in the GenAI design phase to enhance its effectiveness in classrooms. GenAI can support pre-service teachers by fostering creativity and streamlining lesson planning, but educators must remain critical mediators to ensure the curriculum is pedagogically sound and suitable for primary school students.