Towards equitable AI literacy: reconceptualising pre-service english language teacher education in Portugal and Andalusia, Spain

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence is reshaping language education faster than initial teacher education systems can respond. This chapter frames AI integration in pre-service English teacher education as an urgent matter of equity, equality, and justice through three analytical movements. The first maps pre-service English teacher education in Portugal against Decreto-Lei n.º 9-A/2025, documenting the absence of generative AI content across all eight accredited providers. The second audits nine public universities in Andalusia, Spain, across primary English and secondary master's programmes, revealing a comparable structural gap. The third proposes a 3 ECTS curricular unit on generative AI in EFL pre-service education, grounded in the EU AI Act, DigComp 3.0, and UNESCO's AI Competency Framework for Teachers, structured around equity, equality, and justice. The chapter concludes that preparing critically AI-literate language teachers is a structural equity imperative, and that inaction risks deepening existing inequalities for already-marginalised learners.