Evaluating Teachers’ Perceived Opportunities and Challenges on Integrating Artificial Intelligence among Public Secondary Schools in Delta State, Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64348/zije.2026531Keywords:
Artificial intelligence integration, Teachers’ perceptions, Opportunities, Challenges, public secondary schools.Abstract
This study investigated teachers’ perceived opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence integration in urban and rural public secondary schools in Delta State, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study, which was anchored on two theories. A descriptive-comparative survey design was adopted. The population comprised 11,011 teachers in 488 public secondary schools across 25 local government areas. Using the Taro Yamane formula and multistage sampling, 386 teachers were selected, while 380 questionnaires were analyzed. Data were collected using the validated 20-item Artificial Intelligence Integration Opportunities and Challenges Questionnaire. Mean and standard deviation answered the research questions, while independent-samples t-tests tested the hypotheses at the .05 significance level. The findings showed that teachers recognized AI opportunities for lesson preparation, personalized instruction, feedback, assessment and independent learning. They identified unreliable electricity, poor internet connectivity, inadequate devices, limited competence, insufficient training and ethical concerns as challenges. Urban teachers perceived the opportunities more strongly, whereas rural teachers perceived the challenges more strongly. The study concluded that AI offered educational value, but unequal infrastructure and support limited its equitable integration. It recommended improved electricity, connectivity and digital devices, particularly in rural schools, alongside practical teacher training, technical support and responsible-use guidelines.
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