Contradictions and Trust Erosion

How Generative AI Mediates Pupils' Educational Experience

Abstract

The use, or perceived use, of generative AI (GenAI) has spread throughout society, including among secondary education pupils. The availability of this technology affects education as a whole, and technology education in particular, as the subject that may have to lay the foundation for pupils' understanding of AI. There have been numerous studies on how teachers and pupils perceive GenAI, as well as research into its use. However, there has been little study of how the changes in education due to GenAI impacted pupils’ overall school experience. The present paper reports on the open-ended answers (n = 807) from a survey completed by Swedish upper secondary pupils in May 2024 (n = 1266). Through an inductive qualitative content analysis, main and subcategories were identified. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) is used as a lens to conceptualise how GenAI mediates education. The pupils’ responses reveal that GenAI mediates pupils’ activity systems both through direct use and through institutional reactions to its presence. My analysis identifies several contradictions as pupils and teachers navigate the existence of GenAI as an available tool. These contradictions have eroded several dimensions of trust. The strongest of these is the teachers' trust in pupils, but also affected are pupils’ trust in their peers, pupils’ trust in the educational system’s ability to provide fair education and grading, to compensate for individual difficulties, and to provide an education that adequately prepares them for the future. Implications include the need for schools to address the consequences of their responses to GenAI and the importance for technology education to provide structured education and support for the use of GenAI.