As students across Toronto and the rest of Canada head back to the classroom, a new national poll suggests parents are more comfortable with technology being part of their children’s schoolwork than Canadians without kids.
The Liaison Strategies survey found just five per cent of households with children believe laptops and tablets should have no role in elementary schoolwork, compared with 22 per cent of households without children.
The polling also found parents are more supportive of technology use in secondary schools. Sixty-one per cent of households with children said about half, most or all secondary schoolwork should involve laptops or tablets, compared with 47 per cent of households without children.
But as students return to school, the survey also points to a more complicated relationship with technology, particularly when it comes to artificial intelligence.
Parents may be more comfortable with screens in the classroom, but Canadians appear to have clearer limits on how much work AI should be allowed to do for students.
“The intuitive story is that parents would be more anti-screen, but that is not what these numbers show,” said David Valentin, principal at Liaison Strategies.
“Households with kids are much less likely to say there should be no laptop or tablet use in elementary classrooms.”
Parents more comfortable with classroom technology
Valentin said the findings don’t necessarily mean parents want classrooms dominated by screens.
“The preference is controlled use, not no use,” he said.
The survey found the gap between households with and without children extends into secondary school.
Among households with children, 61 per cent said about half, most or all secondary schoolwork should involve laptops or tablets. Among households without children, that figure drops to 47 per cent.
Canadians draw a line on AI in schools
As AI becomes an increasingly visible part of education, Canadians appear more supportive of teaching students about the technology than allowing it to complete their work.
Seventy per cent of Canadians support requiring students to learn how to use AI tools and assess the accuracy of AI-generated information.
Sixty-six per cent also said students should be allowed to use AI to explain concepts they are struggling with.
But support drops when AI is used to generate or evaluate schoolwork.
Sixty-nine per cent said students should not be allowed to use AI to generate a first draft of an essay or assignment, while 56 per cent oppose teachers using AI-assisted tools to help grade assignments.
“The public is drawing a clear line between using technology as a tool and letting technology do the work,” Valentin said.
“AI explaining a concept is acceptable to most Canadians. AI writing the first draft or helping grade assignments is a much harder sell.”
Canadians question whether schools are ready for AI
Despite broad support for AI literacy, the poll found many Canadians aren’t convinced schools are prepared to manage the technology as students return to classrooms.
Fifty-eight per cent said schools are either not very well equipped or not at all equipped to handle AI in the classroom, while 30 per cent said schools are very or somewhat well equipped.
Views also differed depending on voting intention.
Support for mandatory AI literacy was lowest among Bloc Québécois voters, at 64 per cent, followed by Conservative voters at 68 per cent.
Bloc Québécois and Conservative voters were also the most likely to say AI will worsen education. Fifty-seven per cent of Bloc voters and 50 per cent of Conservative voters said they believe AI will make education worse.
The Liaison Strategies survey was conducted from Aug. 23 to Sept. 5 among 1,526 Canadians using interactive voice response technology.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
