Empathetic Pathways: Leveraging Verstehen to Navigate GenAI in Canadian Teacher Education

This paper explores the integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence Technologies (GenAI) into teacher education through a Verstehen-informed lens that centers empathetic understanding while safeguarding humanistic teaching practices. We synthesize global, national, and institutional responses and juxtapose them with insights from educators navigating GenAI in secondary classrooms, illuminating tensions between innovation and erosion of pedagogical integrity, uneven policy guidance, and urgent capacity-building needs in Faculties of Education (FOEs). The paper advances a collaborative, equity-driven model for FOEs that translates these insights into actionable institutional design. The model specifies five mutually reinforcing structures including AI Co-Labs for co-development and evaluation; sandbox classrooms for low-risk pedagogical experimentation; student advisory panels to protect agency and inclusion; equity-first implementation for access checks, bias mitigation, and impact monitoring; and clear governance protocols for data, transparency, and accountability, thus providing a pragmatic blueprint to operationalize responsible GenAI preparation. By aligning interpretive principles with implementable mechanisms for curriculum, professional learning, and policy, the model offers FOEs and policymakers concrete pathways to harness GenAI’s benefits while mitigating risks and preserving humanistic teaching.