What Parents, Teachers, and Staff Want from AI in Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform Alberta’s schools, offering new possibilities for teaching, learning, and managing education. But introducing AI successfully requires more than just deploying cutting-edge technology. To gain trust and foster collaboration, schools must align their AI strategies with the values of the people they serve: parents, teachers, and staff.

At the Alberta School Boards Association conference in Edmonton, I shared insights from a Valuegraphics study designed to uncover what truly matters to Alberta’s school communities. This research, based on nearly a million surveys worldwide, revealed three critical Power Values that can guide the integration of AI into education: Personal Responsibility, Loyalty, and Self-Control.

These values provide a blueprint for how AI can enhance education while reinforcing the human-centered mission of schools. Here’s how they can be applied to make AI a trusted ally in Alberta’s classrooms and communities.

1. Personal Responsibility

What It Means: Parents, teachers, and staff value getting essential tasks done efficiently and effectively, fostering a sense of stability and reliability.

How to Use It: Position AI as a partner that ensures critical work gets done, freeing educators and administrators to focus on the aspects of education that only humans can provide. Highlight AI’s ability to streamline scheduling, identify students who need extra support, and handle time-consuming reporting tasks. These efficiencies allow schools to become more responsive to the needs of their communities.

What to Communicate: AI isn’t replacing human effort—it’s enhancing it. It helps schools honor their commitment to doing what needs to be done for students, staff, and families in a way that’s faster, more accurate, and aligned with their values.

2. Loyalty

What It Means: Loyalty in these communities centers on trust and commitment to personal relationships.

How to Use It: Show how AI strengthens—not replaces—trusted relationships within schools. For example, by automating grading or analyzing student performance, AI gives teachers more time to connect directly with students and parents. This ensures that the human connections at the heart of education remain strong and vibrant.
What to Communicate: AI is here to support relationships, not diminish them. It provides teachers with tools to amplify their ability to engage and care for every student, reinforcing the bonds of trust that define great schools.

3. Self-Control

What It Means: Self-Control reflects a commitment to doing what’s right, even when it’s not the easiest option.

How to Use It: Embed shared values into AI systems to ensure transparency and accountability in every decision. Whether it’s resource allocation or program planning, AI can help schools evaluate options clearly and fairly, ensuring decisions align with the principles that matter most to the community.

What to Communicate: AI isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about making principled choices. By embedding values into how AI operates, schools ensure their decisions reflect the priorities of parents, teachers, and staff.

The Power of Shared Values

These Power Values—Personal Responsibility, Loyalty, and Self-Control—are unique to Alberta’s school communities, derived from rigorous research into what drives decision-making for parents, teachers, and staff. By using these values as a guide, schools can build trust and collaboration while navigating the challenges and opportunities that AI presents.

When values lead the way, AI becomes more than a tool. It becomes a trusted ally that supports the mission of education and the people who make it possible.

Why Values Matter in the Age of AI

AI may be transforming the world, but in schools, it’s our human values that determine whether that transformation creates real progress. Values ensure that technology enhances the human experience instead of diminishing it.

By aligning AI strategies with the shared values of Alberta’s parents, teachers, and staff, schools can create environments where technology supports collaboration, trust, and success for everyone involved.

The future of education isn’t a competition between humanity and technology—it’s a partnership. And when that partnership is guided by values, the possibilities are endless.

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