Beyond Tools, Toward Power Structures: A Critical Review of AI in Primary Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/reec.48.2025.45126Palabras clave:
Inteligencia artificial en educación, Alfabetización digital, Marco analítico crítico, Educación primariaResumen
This article critically review how academic literature on artificial intelligence (AI) in primary education addresses the multiple dimensions of its impact on digital literacy moving beyond an instrumental understanding of AI to examine how it also functions as a power structure. 23 primary studies were qualitatively analysed through a seven-dimensional analytical framework: instrumental, epistemological, ethical, social, political, commercial, and ideological. 4 systematic reviews were consulted for context but not coded. Coverage is uneven: instrumental, ethical, epistemological and social dimensions appear most often, and commercial and ideological aspects remain marginal. Correlation analysis shows epistemology at the hub of current debate, yet reveals sharp disconnections—particularly technical vs. governance and market vs. social—that fragment understanding of AI’s educational role. These patterns confirm that AI is still framed chiefly as a technical fix with moral overtones, rather than as an entangled power structure shaping classrooms, policies and markets. A multidimensional lens is therefore essential. Only through integrated, critically informed collaboration among educators, families, researchers, industry and policy-makers can AI advance educational justice and democratic participation, instead of deepening existing inequities.
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