The Essential AI Competency Framework for Teachers in India

AI is no longer a distant buzzword confined to sci-fi movies or Silicon Valley boardrooms. It’s here, woven into the very fabric of our daily lives, and yes, even in the administrative systems in schools. For educators, this shift is both a challenge and an opportunity. That’s where UNESCO’s AI Competency Framework for Teachers steps in.

What is an AI Competency Framework?

This comprehensive framework is a global initiative designed to help educators meaningfully engage with AI. In simple terms, an AI competency framework is a structured guide that outlines the knowledge, skills, and attitudes teachers need to understand and effectively use AI in their teaching practice.

But it’s more than just understanding how AI works. It’s about integrating AI ethically and responsibly into educational environments, whether it’s using AI-powered platforms for personalised learning, harnessing automation for grading, or designing lessons that clarify machine learning for students.

The framework breaks down AI-related competencies into specific areas, supporting continuous professional growth, boosting classroom impact, and bridging the digital divide.

Key Aspects of the AI Competency Framework for Teachers in India

Before diving into how teachers can adopt this framework, let’s explore its foundational pillars:

1. Lifelong Professional Development

   AI is evolving at breakneck speed. For teachers, this means constant upskilling and relearning. The AI Competency Framework encourages professional development for teachers by providing clear pathways to build AI abilities gradually. This aligns well with the needs of Indian educators navigating new policies, platforms, and teaching strategies.

2. Human-Centred Approach

   The framework ensures that technology serves people, not the other way around. In the practical world, this human-first mindset means using AI tools to support human decision-making, not replace it. This translates to inclusive, meaningful learning where AI supports the educational journey of every student at their own pace.

3. Ethical Use of AI

   As AI becomes increasingly embedded in our classrooms and lives, it’s not just about what we teach, but how responsibly we teach it. The AI competency framework for teachers in India places strong emphasis on the ethics of AI, encouraging educators to understand and model ethical behaviour in the digital age.

   It is about more than just warning students against plagiarism or misinformation. It guides teachers through the essential values, ethical principles, regulatory frameworks, and practical dos and don’ts when it comes to using AI in education.

4. AI Literacy and Application

   When there are different AI tools available for different purposes, like AI for administrative tasks or adaptive learning platforms, it becomes essential for teachers to fully understand how they work and why these are important in real-world applications. With this aspect, teachers can not only understand AI terminology but also apply it meaningfully in their classrooms.

5. Academic Integration

   Let’s face it, integrating AI into everyday teaching can feel overwhelming without the right guidance. That’s where this framework steps in. This aspect helps teachers fuse AI into their lesson plans, using strategies that are engaging, age-appropriate, and interdisciplinary. Whether it’s using data from AI-driven platforms to inform teaching or creating AI-related inquiry projects, the framework supports innovation in academics.

Importance of AI Competency Framework in Education

1. Bridging the Knowledge Gap

   While AI is influencing everything in the education sector, many teachers and students still struggle to grasp its basics. The AI competency framework for teachers in India introduces a step-by-step approach to understanding AI, ensuring inclusivity across schools, urban or rural, private or government-run.

2. Promoting Responsible AI Use

   Since AI tools are becoming more accessible in classrooms, the need for responsible usage increases. This framework trains teachers to address key issues like surveillance, misinformation, and algorithmic bias. Students thus learn not only to use AI blindly but to question it, explore it, and challenge it ethically.

3. Supporting Teachers in Curriculum Integration

   AI is new and yet a complex topic. Most professional training does not cover this in the education world, which often leaves teachers feeling unequipped to experiment. This framework acts as a much-needed roadmap, helping educators map AI to their subjects, select appropriate teaching tools, and evaluate outcomes. And platforms like Extramarks help make this AI integration into your school easier and smoother for teachers.

4. Ensuring Equity in AI Education

   Without a standard framework, AI education risks becoming a privilege for a few who have full access to it. By standardising learning objectives and teaching tools, the AI competency framework for teachers promotes equity, so a child in rural Jharkhand gets the same AI exposure as one in urban Mumbai.

5. Supporting Professional Growth

   AI isn’t a one-and-done topic. It constantly keeps evolving. With the help of the AI framework, teachers are set on a journey of lifelong learning. As they progress, their skills refine and they are on better career paths, aided by training modules and resource kits.

6. Changing the Traditional Teaching Path

   AI education demands creativity. The framework helps teachers move beyond rote learning into experiential methods, think coding bootcamps, robotics clubs, and real-world problem-solving tasks. It empowers teachers to bring AI alive in classrooms.

Progression Levels of the AI Competency Framework for Teachers

The AI competency framework for teachers works in a three-level progression model, making it easier for teachers to learn about AI step-by-step. Here’s how those levels function:

1. Progression Level 1: Acquire

   The Acquire stage lays the groundwork for every teacher’s AI journey. Here, you build essential AI literacy, grasp the basics of how AI works, and begin to use simple, locally accessible tools. At this level of the framework, you should be able to:

   • Understand AI as Human‑Led: Recognise that AI reflects the decisions of its creators. Appreciate how design choices affect human rights, autonomy and inclusion.
   • Grasp Core Ethical Principles: Be aware of data privacy, cultural diversity and environmental impact when using AI. Advocate for responsible, inclusive practice in your school.
   • Learn Foundational AI Concepts: Know what AI is, how models are trained, and the main technology categories. Use this knowledge to assess tool suitability.
   • Evaluate and Select Tools: Choose AI applications that align with your subject, age group and learning goals. Focus on simplicity and relevance, rather than bells and whistles.
   • Explore AI for Teaching: Experiment with AI‑powered lesson planning, personalised learning, and automated assessment.

2. Progression Level 2: Deepen

   The next level is where teachers move from awareness to competence. You engage with it by embedding it into your teaching practices while upholding human accountability, ethics and inclusivity.

   Here’s what you should be able to cover at this level of the AI competency framework in education:

   • Embrace Human Accountability: AI can never replace human judgment, so this is where you have to make the co-existence of AI and the human mind possible.
   • Internalise Ethical Standards: Apply essential rules of data privacy and intellectual property to protect the rights and safety of students and colleagues when using AI.
   • Operate AI Tools With Confidence: This confidence can only come when you deepen your understanding of various AI technologies and their underlying data algorithms.
   • Integrate AI Into Academics: Design student‑centred lessons that leverage AI for differentiated learning and richer teacher-student interactions. Use AI insights to adapt activities in real time, ensuring every learner thrives.
   • Use AI for Professional Growth: Participate actively in collaborative professional learning communities by sharing resources, co‑creating AI‑enhanced lesson plans and engaging in peer‑to‑peer upskilling.

3. Progression Level 3: Create

   At the third level, teachers are now not only using AI but also becoming innovators by shaping how technology serves their school and community. At this level, you should be able to contribute to policy, co‑design ethical standards, and build bespoke AI solutions that address local educational challenges.

   Here’s the level you should reach at this progression level of AI competency:

   • Shape Inclusive AI Societies: Lead conversations on AI’s societal impact, like its effects on norms, welfare, inclusion and social justice.
   • Co‑Create Ethical Standards: Drive critical advocacy around data ethics, cultural sensitivity, and sustainability. Collaborate with peers, administrators, and external partners to develop school‑wide guidelines for responsible AI use.
   • Customise AI Tools: Combine open‑source toolkits or adapt AI platforms to create AI‑assisted learning environments tailored to your students’ needs.
   • Design AI‑Enhanced Curriculum: Plan and facilitate immersive, cross‑disciplinary projects that harness AI for critical thinking and problem‑solving.
   • Lead Professional Development: Mentor colleagues in using AI to personalise teaching practices, fostering a community of teacher‑leaders driving digital transformation.

AI Domain Competencies for Public Officials in the Education Sector

While teachers are at the frontline, policymakers and administrators also play a pivotal role in building an AI-enabled education system. The AI competency framework for education isn’t just limited to the teacher. It further categorises officials into two levels:

1. Level 1: Policy-Level Officials

   Policy‑level officials, such as Education Ministry leaders, curriculum developers, and AI strategists, are the architects of systemic change. They set the vision, guardrails and partnerships that enable AI to flourish in Indian schools.

   Here’s how they can make education more AI competent:

   • Setting long-term strategic goals for AI integration in education.
   • Aligning AI use with broader policies like NEP 2020.
   • Designing governance models to oversee responsible AI use.
   • Understanding legal frameworks on data privacy, security, and ethics.
   • Building collaborations with government bodies, tech providers, and international organisations to support AI education initiatives.

2. Level 2: Programme-Level Officials

   These are state education officers, district coordinators, principals, and academic heads who operationalise AI initiatives. Their responsibilities include:

   • Managing AI programmes, right from planning to evaluation.
   • Training teachers and staff to use AI tools confidently.
   • Analysing data to measure programme success and inform decision-making.
   • Addressing risks such as misuse or privacy concerns.
   • Facilitating the day-to-day application of AI in schools, be it for student performance tracking, automating admin work, or enabling personalised learning.
   • Collecting and feeding accurate data into AI systems to maintain reliability.
   • Gathering user feedback to continuously improve tool usage and effectiveness.

Extramarks: Your Perfect Guide to AI-Enabled Teaching!

The AI Competency Framework for Teachers in India is not just another education policy. Rather, it’s a compass for the future. AI is evolving and reshaping the way teachers teach and students learn. This has raised the bar and made it essential for Indian educators to evolve from tech-users to tech-enablers.

At Extramarks, we stand with educators every step of the way. Since AI is taking the front seat, we understand the initial acceptance can be overwhelming. And we’re with your school every step of the way! From offering AI-powered teaching tools to enabling AI in education, we’re here to support your transformation.

Last Updated on July 31, 2025