The competency model of AI literacy functions as a Freirean banking model, training users to adapt rather than transform¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r2 · q1
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? The competency model deposits AI skills into users for efficient participation in the knowledge economy without inviting examination of the conditions under which AI knowledge is produced, functioning as a sophisticated version of Freire's banking model of education. → Brady D. Lund and Zoë Abbie Teel 2026

Evidence¶

Brady D. Lund and Zoë Abbie Teel 2026¶

Brady D. Lund and Zoë Abbie Teel. (2026). AI Literacy: An Exercise in Power-Knowledge. University of North Texas. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.27547 doi:10.48550/arxiv.2607.27547

q1 · i? · theoretical · r2

Theoretical argument via Freire: users are trained to adapt to the world rather than transform it. The authors grant the competency model real value — evaluating outputs, recognizing hallucinations, protecting privacy, avoiding over-reliance — but argue it structurally frames the AI-literate person as a consumer of AI-generated knowledge.

"The competency model of AI literacy is a sophisticated version of the banking model of education: institutions deposit AI skills into users so that users can more efficiently participate in the knowledge economy"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The agent/consumer distinction is not primarily technical sophistication but capacity to interrogate the assumptions of AI outputs — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Existing institutional AI literacy frameworks converge on a consumer model with no substantive treatment of training data politics or governance participation — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Most ITS applications augment existing mathematics teaching practices rather than transform instruction, indicating technological sophistication does not independently determine pedagogical value — related
• One focal student exhibited a critical-pragmatic humanistic AI literacy, conceptualizing AI as a manipulable tool and evaluating it by rhetorical efficiency — related
• Technical assistance functions as a structural constraint that embeds World Bank frameworks in national policymaking, not merely as advice — related