The current landscape of teachers artificial intelligence acceptance: Relationships with TPACK and technostress

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge [TPACK], technostress, and artificial intelligence [AI] acceptance. Specifically, the study aimed to determine overall levels, examine differences based on gender, educational level, professional experience, and subject area, and analyze the relationships among these variables, including the predictive roles of TPACK and technostress in explaining AI acceptance. The sample comprised 204 middle and high school teachers. Teachers reported high levels of TPACK perceptions and AI acceptance, and moderate levels of technostress. AI acceptance differed significantly by gender and professional experience, with female and early-career teachers showing higher acceptance, whereas TPACK and technostress did not differ significantly across these groups. Subject area differences emerged for TPACK and technostress, but not for AI acceptance; arts and physical education teachers reported higher TPACK, whereas humanities teachers experienced higher technostress. No significant differences were found across educational levels for TPACK, technostress, or AI acceptance. TPACK was negatively associated with technostress and positively associated with AI acceptance, whereas technostress showed no significant relationship with AI acceptance. TPACK significantly predicted AI acceptance, explaining 11.4% of the variance, while technostress did not emerge as a significant predictor. The findings underscore the central role of technopedagogical competence in shaping teachers’ adoption of AI, while highlighting the influence of factors such as gender and experience.