Fostering Intelligent-TPACK through AI-assistance: A multi-method study in pre-service teacher education

As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) rapidly becomes a structural element of education, teacher preparation programs face urgent challenges in developing both pedagogical competence and ethical awareness among future educators. This exploratory study investigates how Swiss pre-service teachers in business education conceptualize, design, and evaluate GenAI-supported instruction through the lens of the Intelligent-TPACK framework, an expanded model integrating technological, pedagogical, content, and ethical knowledge. Twelve master-level pre-service teachers participated in a mixed-method study that combined self-report surveys, group-based instructional design artefacts, and AI-driven prompt analysis using OpenAI o3. Results show that participants reported high confidence in technological and pedagogical AI knowledge, but they exhibited weaker confidence and reliability in ethical knowledge, particularly regarding transparency and accountability. All chatbot designs address the "Active" rather than "Interactive" level of the ICAP hierarchy. The AI-based analysis further highlighted gaps in Socratic questioning and metacognitive prompting, underscoring limited opportunities for reflection and co-construction. These findings reveal a need to move beyond surface-level tool familiarity towards integrating ethical reflection and explicit design-in-action practices within teacher education. Ultimately, the study underscores the importance of cultivating pre-service teachers as co-designers of pedagogical experiences who are equipped to navigate both the technical and ethical complexities of AI-mediated classrooms.