Integration of generative AI to foster critical thinking: a scoping review in pre-service teacher education

This scoping review examines how generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is being integrated into initial teacher education to foster pre-service teachers’ critical thinking. Four databases (Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, and EBSCOhost) were searched for English-language studies published between 2023 and 2025, and screened records were analysed using dual-independent procedures. Twenty-nine empirical studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings revealed that GenAI was integrated in initial teacher education in three dominant modes: (1) collaborative partner, (2) resource generator, and (3) assessment tool. Overall, the integration of GenAI in initial teacher education fostered the development of critical thinking skills and dispositions, with designs that consistently positioned GenAI as an interlocutor most closely associated with learning gains. Challenges to GenAI integration in initial teacher education included perceived technological limitations, user challenges, particularly in terms of a lack of AI literacy, and ethical challenges. Our synthesis of the literature also revealed two methodological gaps. First, there was limited attention to explaining teachers’ pedagogical practices for integrating GenAI into initial teacher education. Second, there was an inconsistent conceptualisation and measurement of critical thinking, with many studies relying on proxy indicators rather than standardised instruments. Overall, this scoping review demonstrates that GenAI can make a meaningful contribution to the development of pre-service teachers’ critical thinking, particularly when GenAI is positioned as an active collaborator in the knowledge construction process.