Artificial intelligence is gaining ground in Philippine classrooms, but schools are struggling to keep institutional strategies and teacher training aligned with adoption, pointing to a readiness gap as higher education expands AI-enabled learning.
New research commissioned by Instructure found that half of surveyed education practitioners said their institutions already offer AI literacy or digital-skills programs for students.
Another 41 percent reported that their institutions provide AI tools for teaching and course design, while 40 percent said AI tools are integrated into course content or delivery. Meanwhile, 38 percent reported using AI-powered tutoring or learning assistants.
Only 18 percent said their institutions were still exploring AI without a current approach, suggesting that adoption has moved beyond the experimental stage for many schools.
Institutional preparedness, however, remains less developed. Respondents rated their confidence that their institutions have a clear strategy for integrating AI into lifelong-learning pathways at 3.08 out of five.
Confidence that faculty and staff have sufficient training to use AI effectively and support diverse learners was lower, at 2.87.
The findings are based on an August survey of 207 practitioners from higher education and technical-vocational institutions in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao. Instructure cautioned that the results are indicative and not nationally representative.
The readiness gap will be among the issues discussed at CanvasCon Philippines 2026 on Oct. 7, which is expected to bring together more than 500 education leaders and institutional decision-makers.
Instructure Asia Pacific Managing Director Darren Read said the expansion of flexible learning, lifelong-learning pathways and digital delivery makes institutional readiness increasingly important as technology reshapes education.
