Artificial Intelligence in Comparative Curriculum Analysis: Unveiling Commonalities and Contradictions in Teacher Education Programs across the Levant and Hungary

<p><em><span>Many developments in educational practices have emerged rapidly in recent times, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence, which has had a direct impact on the educational process in general and teacher preparation programs in particular, and has affected, in one way or another, educational practices and educational policy frameworks. Although artificial intelligence is integrated into teacher preparation programs worldwide, there are many aspects that are not sufficiently explored, especially with the different social, political, educational, and teaching contexts. Here, I specifically mention the Levant and Hungary. To address this mysterious gap, this research focused on identifying the differences and similarities in the integration of artificial intelligence into teacher preparation programs in the Levant and Hungary in particular.</span></em></p> <p><em><span>To achieve the research objectives, this study used a comparative research design and document analysis to systematically examine the curricula of official teacher preparation programs and institutional policy documents published between 2015 and 2025. Data were collected from reliable areas and accredited bodies such as the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the National Authority for Accreditation and University Curricula, and were analyzed using inductive coding to identify thematic patterns related to the topic.</span></em></p> <p><em><span>Initial results showed that there is institutional recognition at various levels of the importance of integrating artificial intelligence into education, despite the presence of noticeable disparities and differences in curricula, teachers' digital competencies, and their readiness to adopt these technological ideas, as well as some specific and restrictive policies and decisions in this framework, and the weak readiness of the infrastructure in some institutions, which hinders the process of adopting this integration more quickly and with greater efficiency and the unfair distribution of resources.</span></em></p>