AI Literacy and Professional Development Engagement as Predictors of Mathematics Teachers’ Readiness for AI-Enhanced Instruction

This study examined how well AI literacy and professional development (PD) engagement can explain mathematics teachers’ readiness for AI-enhanced instruction. Data were collected through a quantitative correlational design from all mathematics teachers at a private school in Metro Manila using three standardized tools: the AI Literacy Scale, a PD Engagement Survey, and the AI Readiness Questionnaire (RAIS). Results showed that teachers were skilled in using, interpreting, and evaluating AI tools; however, only AI-related training influenced their readiness, largely due to time-related structural constraints. A strong, statistically significant positive correlation was found between AI literacy and AI readiness dimensions using Spearman’s rank correlation. Exploratory multiple regression analysis showed that AI literacy was the greatest contributor to the different domains of teachers’ readiness most of the time (? = 0.59 to 0.66, p < 0.01). PD engagement was shown to have a smaller, but significant impact (? = 0.31 to 0.36, p < 0.05). These findings emphasize the importance of supporting in field-specific professional development to strengthen mathematics teachers’ AI literacy to ready them to use AI in their teaching. The study suggests that embedding AI literacy in teacher education and offering flexible, relevant PD can help teachers adopt AI in mathematics classrooms in a responsible and effective way.