Abstract
The article focuses on the development of teachers’ professional competence in designing virtual reality (VR) environments through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). AI tools make it possible to create 360° content, 3D objects, synthetic videos, and conversational agents. While such work previously required specialists with technical expertise, these technologies can now be applied in pedagogical practice. This, in turn, requires teachers to develop the competence to design immersive educational environments using AI. The aim of the study is to propose a model aimed at developing teacher’s professional competence in integrating AI and VR into the learning process. The research methods include analysis and synthesis of scientific literature, a review of the pedagogical use of AI services, and an analysis of survey results obtained from Kazakhstani school students and teachers. The findings showed that students most often use AI for information search (54.3%), translation (42.2%), and answer generation (38.1%), whereas teachers perceive the integration of AI and VR as a more methodologically complex task (33.0–51.6%). On this basis, a model consisting of five AI-aligned blocks was proposed: analytical-diagnostic, didactic, immersive-technological, facilitative, and reflective-evaluative. In addition, a six-stage design pipeline for developing a VR learning fragment on the topic of “Space” was specified. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the development of an integrated model that connects the pedagogical use of generative AI services with the structure of the UNESCO AI Competency Framework for Teachers.The practical significance of the study is determined by the applicability of the model in the development of teacher professional development programs.