I'm interested, Paige, in when you talk about unprecedented growth in population and a lot of that through immigration, what are the ways that that transforms into challenges? Like, what would you have captured in this report that would be a s- a symptom of that unprecedented growth you talk about?

Sure.

So if a government is spend-- uh, planning spending on, okay, we're going to have, you know, we're gonna plan for this many, you know, classrooms, this many schools, this much school supplies, um, however, you know, based on steady state operations.

This is what our anticipated enrollment is for these years.

Um, and we're going to base this on sort of what the typical immigration to Saskatchewan looks like, um, typical, you know, growth in the population of, of families that already live here, um, and, and then they plan based on those things.

Um, when you have enrollment growth as a result of something that's kind of outside of their control or that they didn't plan for, like immigration, and I'll give you the number, just it, it is quite stark.

So if you look at the period from two thousand oh one school year to the twenty nineteen/twenty school year, um, the growth of the immigration of school-aged children, so those aged five to seventeen, um, was twelve point five percent on average.

Is it the outcomes that our kids are getting?

So the study's kind of fascinating, and the takeaway, AI is everywhere, right? In junior high and senior high schools in this country, and that's teachers, students, everyone is in on AI, it seems.

Yeah.

So our survey, grades six to 12 teachers, so that could be middle school, upper elementary school, high school students, um, that they are teaching.

Um, we surveyed teachers right across the country, including, uh, many in Alberta, and, and I can give you the, the Alberta-specific numbers when we're chatting about this today.

But we basically talked about their own AI use as teachers.

We found that a great number of teachers in Alberta, um, are using AI.

S- about three-quarters of teachers, 73.8%, say they use AI in their work at least once a week.

One of the issues that you point out in this survey, and it's one that you and I have talked about before, Paige, and it sounds like it hasn't gotten any better, it's still kinda like the Wild West, right? Largely, there, there's very few policies or not enough policies, at least when it comes to Alberta educators, Canadian educators, on, on how to manage this technology and what to do with it, right?

Is that the future of AI and perhaps we're just, you know, worried about what's inevitable?

It's a really important question, for sure.

So we asked that question about what share of your students do you think are using AI for homework? But we also asked a follow-up question, which is what percentage of your students do you believe, of those who are using AI, what share of those students do you think are using it reasonably? Which is what you're saying, right? Basically the new Google, they're using this to support their research on their take-home assignments.

And then what share do you think are using it inappropriately? In other words, using it to do their work for them and therefore not completing the requisite work themselves as the students.

And of those students who are using AI, BC teachers believe that an average of 52.2% of those students are using it inappropriately.

So just over half are using it to actually do their work for them, according to the teachers that Leger surveyed in BC.

And I think that's really the concerning point.

And what would teachers like to see done here? Is there a way to manage this so that more students use it appropriately or for us to find a way to integrate AI responsibly?

But you also highlight that the fact is that they're not thinking.

Yeah, that's right.

So just to put those numbers out there.

So 49% of the respondent teachers in BC believe that half or more of their students are using AI for their homework.

And then of those kids who are using AI for their homework today, The BC teachers that we polled said an average of 52.2%.

So about half of those students who are using it are doing so inappropriately, just to give those numbers.

And then in terms of those in-class writing and analytical skills, because that is the concern.

How do we bring back critical thinking in schools?

You wrote this and, and, and worked into the data page, and, um, it is tricky territory, isn't it? It, it, it is very new frontier, Wild West, but I also think when I read this I go, "I want our teachers to be able to navigate the artificial intelligence world with a clear policy, with clear training, like we'd want for anything else for education," and we don't see it here, do we?

Yeah, that's right.

So we conducted a survey, uh, with Leger, um, of Ontario teachers, um, and teachers across the country.

So we've zeroed in on the Ontario results for this.

So they're teachers within, uh, grade 6 to 12 classrooms teaching a variety of subjects across a variety of school types, so independent schools, government, public schools of all different types.

And what we found in Ontario, um, is that there is a large share of teachers that are not seeing the policies in their schools, uh, when it comes to teacher and staff use of AI or student use of AI, um, and then not getting the training when it comes to, um, various uses of AI in the classroom.

A real deficit in both of those areas.

And they, they don't often, uh, blare it out on the record, but off the record, if you will, they say, "Yeah, I gotta figure this out on my own." And, and I guess, like, that's the premise, I think, of what I read from you is that's not an ideal situation because every scenario may be different, but we at least need some form of training and vis-a-vis a blanket policy to go, "Hey, if you spot this in, in a student's work, this is where we go from here."

One of the big debates around this, among people who share a concern about this, is how do you assess the drivers of this phenomenon and how do you weigh economic factors versus cultural factors? Who wants to step into this minefield? I can

jump in there.

So there's a lot of rhetoric, not just rhetoric.

I should, you know, give it maybe its fair shake.

But there are a lot of very smart people who come out and say that the reason that people are not having more children, they very much want to, but they're not because they can't afford it, because of the cost of living.

And I just – I struggle with those arguments.

I think that, you know, concerns around the cost of living are very valid.

It's late, as I said before, too late to have the number of children you say that you would wish to have.