FROM SKILL-BASED EDUCATION TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN EDUCATION: A THEMATIC REVIEW OF THE SINGLE-AUTHOR PUBLICATIONS OF DR. MUHAMMAD RAFIQ-UZ-ZAMAN (2022–2026)

Abstract

The current thematic review reviews 28 single-author articles by Muhammad Rafiq-uz-Zaman published between 2022 and 2026, following the scholarly development of the foundational works on skill-based education into new studies of artificial intelligence-based educational methods. The review outlines six general thematic groups, namely skill-based education and frameworks, pedagogical change through technology, teacher professional development and capacity building, educational equity and social inclusion, systemic governance and quality assurance, and the frontier of AI in education. It is observed that there is a distinct development—the initial publications (2022-2023) defined the paradigms of skill-based education and teacher training requirements, the mid-period (2024-2025) publications incorporated the STEAM approach and digital literacy, and the recent publications (2025-2026) shifted towards the unambiguous inclusion of artificial intelligence. The study has a high Pakistan-specific orientation (57% of publications) and still has comparative and global views. The article shows how the research path of one scholar could have summarized the overall trends in educational transformation, especially how the competency-based frameworks are being replaced by AI-enhanced educational systems.