Several Port Moody parents have asked me this question over the past few weeks, and I’ve given it some thought this year, given how quickly AI is entering our day-to-day.
What’s my vision for AI in schools? And what role should AI and technology play in classrooms, particularly in the younger years?
Here is my answer:
Schools need to focus on learning
Students need to learn to read well, write their own arguments, work through a math problem and think critically. Those skills grow through practice and years of individual study. Any tool that lets a student skip this process isn’t helping them.
My kids were in middle school when “bring your own device” arrived, and I watched screens creep into more and more of their school day. I believe strongly that children and youth need less screen time, not more. I’d love to see more hands-on learning, with maker spaces, covered outdoor classrooms, and teachers who take learning outside, or bring more experiential learning into the classroom. Technology fits best as a tool afterward, for example, to help students document and share what they’ve explored in the real world.
“AI can produce an answer in seconds, but working toward the answer is where the learning happens.”
What AI literacy should mean
Banning AI won’t work, and ignoring it won’t work either. Students already use these tools at home and on their phones. AI literacy should focus on recognizing and critically using these tools. Students should understand roughly how these tools work, where they make things up, how to check a claim against a real source, and how to spot content made to look real. They should also learn to be honest about when they’ve used AI. We are already years behind in developing policies and frameworks for schools and the Ministry, and local School Districts need to catch up.
Keeping pace with the job market
Many entry-level jobs that used to give young people a start are changing as AI arrives. We have seen this with new computer science grads, customer service roles, and manufacturing, to name a few. Right now, more than one in eight young British Columbians who want work can’t find it. This shift in the economy and job market means core skills will matter more and more. Employers still need people who can communicate clearly, solve problems, work with others, and keep learning on their own.
It also means our graduation pathways need to keep up. So many careers, from electricians to early childhood educators, nurses, and teachers, depend on hands-on work, judgment, and relationships that AI can’t replace. I’d ask the board to support the district working closely with post-secondary institutions, industry organizations, and the trades community so what students learn aligns with where the opportunities are.
Art and the humanities
Art, writing, music and history are where students find their own voice, and that voice has to be authentically theirs. Students can and should talk about AI in those classes, about authorship, credit, and what’s lost when a machine imitates an artist. The student should learn to paint, write, create music and art. Losing this to AI creep would be one of the biggest injustices to education and humanity.
Privacy and policy
This summer I met with BC’s Minister of State for AI and New Technologies, our local MLA Rick Glumac, to understand where provincial policy is heading. Policy is moving far slower than the technology, and families can’t wait years for our governments or school districts to come up with guidance.
Trustees don’t choose classroom tools, but our job is to set direction and I will advocate for the board to adopt a clear district framework on AI, built with teachers, parents, and students, that protects foundational learning, sets expectations with respect to academic integrity, gives teachers practical training, and holds every digital tool to a high bar for children’s privacy. I will also advocate for responsible use of technology in our schools with less devices in the classroom. The district’s Education Technology Advisory Committee has already started this conversation, and families belong at that table.
Where AI might help
Once privacy rules are in place, AI may have a role on the teacher’s side of the desk, for example, helping adapt a lesson for a student who learns differently. That should be the teacher’s call, but the tool should never replace the relationship between a teacher and their students.
For full disclosure, I use AI tools in my own work, mostly to organize notes, speed up research, and sometimes tighten drafts. The views here are mine. That experience is part of why I take this seriously. These tools help me as an adult who had to learn unaided in school and at university, but they could easily replace that learning for a student who hasn’t yet.
I’d appreciate hearing from more families and staff about AI while we work through this together. Send me your thoughts at tracy@tracygreen.ca.
Informed. Committed. Community-Driven. I would be honoured to earn your vote on October 17.
