As artificial intelligence moves from a speculative future to an everyday reality, the core mission of education, preparing young people for the world they will inherit, faces a profound shift. Building on last month’s discussion (read article here) regarding the ethical use of AI, a recent national webinar hosted by the EdCan Network in partnership with Engaged Learning by École branchée and The Dais, focused on the specific skills and competencies students will need to thrive.
The conversation centered on a startling timeline: a student starting kindergarten today will graduate in 2040 and potentially work until 2085. As host Kathleen Lane, EdCan Network’s Executive Director, noted, AI is already redefining the future of work and how we share information. The challenge for educators is to determine which human skills remain irreplaceable in this new landscape. This second webinar in a three-part series delves into these challenges and highlights the essential skills students need to thrive in an increasingly digital and intelligent world.
The webinar opened by examining the skills and competencies students need today to thrive in a future shaped by AI and rapid technological change. With a student starting kindergarten now potentially entering the workforce in the mid-21st century, panelists reflected on how education must evolve to prepare young people not just with knowledge, but with the human, cognitive, and ethical skills essential for success in a complex, AI-driven world.
Marc-André Girard, consultant at the Service national du RÉCIT for school administrators and a school principal in Quebec, highlighted the need to prepare students for an uncertain future, emphasizing agility, social-emotional skills, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, computational thinking, kindness, tolerance, and empathy. He cited Finland’s curriculum as a model, which focuses first on transversal skills to develop good citizens, with disciplinary knowledge integrated to support these core abilities. This approach, he noted, helps students navigate rapid changes, including the impact of AI on human tasks and society. As he said, “The only thing certain is uncertainty.”
Sarah Rankin is with the Centre of Excellence for Digital Innovation of the New Brunswick Education and Early Childhood Development Department. She described how the centre connects K–12 students with industry to develop skills early, preparing them for both employment and postsecondary education. A key focus is ensuring students understand and can use AI tools, while also maintaining strong literacy and numeracy skills. This balance addresses employer demands for analytical thinking and resiliency, as highlighted in the World Economic Forum’s report on the future of jobs.
“We need to start building those skills in the K12 system so that when our students graduate, they’re ready for that new job.”
– Sarah Rankin
Indra Kubicek, CEO of Digital Moment, expanded on this by highlighting the importance of fostering perseverance, empathy, and conflict navigation in students, particularly as AI becomes more integrated into work and learning environments. She expanded on this by emphasizing the need for “human-to-human” skills that AI cannot replicate, such as negotiating differences and sitting in discomfort.
“These are skills that we’re at risk of losing as we start to work with AI that doesn’t have feelings… we need to go into these nuance situations where human beings come with all the complexity.”
– Indra Kubicek
Ethical considerations remain central, prompting reflection on not just what can be done with AI, but whether it should be done.
André Côté, interim executive director at The Dais, emphasized that beyond AI literacy, students need foundational “AI resilience” skills—human-centered, soft, and hybrid skills that will help them succeed from K–12 through postsecondary and into the workforce. Drawing on empirical research across over 500 Canadian occupations, he noted that jobs most exposed to AI often require teamwork, communication, leadership, critical thinking, and other social-emotional competencies, which are complemented rather than replaced by AI.
“Even on tech jobs, employers are seeking those types of human soft foundational skills as well,” he said.
The panel then explored the specific skills students need to engage effectively and critically with AI—both in their current learning and later in the workforce. Discussion centered on how education can equip students to navigate rapidly evolving technologies, understand the limits and biases of AI, and apply their knowledge responsibly, ensuring they develop the practical, ethical, and cognitive tools necessary for success in a changing world.
Kubicek related the importance of demystifying AI for students, helping them understand that it is data-driven, not human, and that outputs can be biased or limited.
Critical thinking is essential, as students must learn to assess sources, verify information, and consider the ethical implications of AI, particularly in the workplace. She shared a classroom example where an AI tool could guess a student’s drawing of an ant but failed to recognize the word “ant” because it was only trained on images.
“This really helps make them understand that it’s (AI) not some magical wizard that’s so smart. It’s the way it’s been trained.”
– Indra Kubicek
Côté explained that effectively using AI requires strong foundational skills, including writing, critical thinking, and digital literacy. Research shows that users with these skills gain the most value from AI tools, using them creatively to brainstorm, refine, and test ideas while avoiding overdependence. Conversely, those with weaker skills risk overreliance and may miss opportunities to develop essential competencies.
“Folks who have less of those skills… can certainly benefit from the tools, but at the same time it can lead to this kind of over reliance.”
– André Côté
Girard emphasized that in today’s world, education should focus not only on what students know but on how they can apply their knowledge, including in interactions with AI and social media. Critical thinking, computational thinking, and agency are key skills, helping students understand algorithms, recognize bias, and maintain control when collaborating with AI. He also highlighted the continued importance of foundational literacies and numeracy, noting that digital learning should broaden students’ abilities without neglecting core skills.
“We just need to widen our way of how we are teaching and educating our students. But that doesn’t mean neglecting the core parts.”
– Marc-André Girard
Rankin outlined New Brunswick’s Digital Literacy Framework, which incorporates six key skills for students:
Rankin stated that, with the rise of AI tools, the focus should not only be on effective technology use but also on creative and critical applications. Their students are encouraged to engage in projects such as the “AI for Good” challenge, where they develop AI-powered solutions for local industries, promoting innovation while understanding AI’s broader implications. A critical component is data literacy—students must learn to analyze data, recognize algorithmic manipulation, and understand biases in AI systems, particularly those rooted in Western-centric datasets.
“What we need to do with our students is instill within them that they can use these tools to be innovative and to solve problems in a meaningful way.”
– Sarah Rankin
As the conversation turned toward practical implications for teaching, panelists were asked to reflect on one or two key takeaways from the discussion and consider how classroom experiences might need to evolve. The focus was on equipping students with the critical skills necessary to thrive in an AI-driven world, from human-centered competencies to foundational and digital literacies, while rethinking traditional approaches to learning and assessment.
Rankin stressed that education systems must take a more active role in the public conversation about AI, rather than leaving it to social media influencers or technology companies. Schools have a responsibility to help students understand how AI tools work, how companies profit from personal data, and why critical awareness is necessary when using these technologies. She also emphasized that AI education should begin early, as even young children are already encountering these tools in everyday life.
“We need to own—we need to step up and accept our role in the conversation.”
– Sarah Rankin
Côté talked about the need for a cautious and deliberate approach to AI in education. He explained that before fully integrating AI tools into classrooms, schools must ensure students develop foundational skills such as writing and critical thinking, which are at risk if AI completes too much of the work for them. He also called for stronger integration of digital and AI literacy in curricula and careful evaluation of AI-powered educational technologies to ensure they truly benefit learning.
“Students still need to develop the fundamental skills. I think we need to start there.”
– André Côté
Girard cautioned against retreating from technology in schools and argued that education has a responsibility to teach students how to use AI ethically and responsibly. Rather than avoiding these tools, he suggested that AI could actually support education by reducing administrative burdens for educators and allowing more time to focus on students’ development as thoughtful, well-rounded individuals.
“We want to create kids who have a nice head instead of a full head. We want them to be good humans. We want to help them develop human skills.”
– Marc-André Girard
Kubicek closed this section by encouraging schools to rethink teaching and learning in response to AI, shifting away from traditional homework and toward more discussion-based, applied learning in the classroom. She emphasized that AI should not be treated as a standalone subject but integrated across the curriculum and taught through real-world examples that address ethical and practical challenges. She also stressed that AI literacy must be accessible to all students—whether they pursue university, vocational training, or enter the workforce directly—and that teachers’ role should increasingly focus on guidance and mentorship rather than simply delivering knowledge.
She also emphasized that we’ve passed the point of pretending AI doesn’t exist or framing it solely as a cheating issue.
“We’re beyond the moment of where we could say, ‘Oh, it’s all about cheating. We don’t want students to cheat, so there’s no AI and we’re not going to talk about it and pretend it doesn’t exist.’”
– Indra Kubicek
The Zoom chat was central to this second webinar, enabling real-time resource sharing and critical reflection. Participants exchanged materials like workforce “heatmaps,” AI implementation frameworks, and links to national initiatives on phone-free policies and student well-being.
The discussion explored AI’s ethical complexities, including its potential to replicate or counteract biases such as racism and colonialism. Attendees highlighted the need for a “managed transition” to support teachers still building AI literacy amid rapid change.
These exchanges fostered a community of practice, challenging the notion that new tools equate to cheating, and promoting co-learning, where teachers guide and co-create knowledge with students rather than simply delivering it.
“In most of our conversations about AI in schools, we talk a lot about tools and risks, but less about students as rights‑holders in these digital spaces. If we take seriously the idea that students have rights in digital environments, what rights‑based language sh/could show up in teacher moves, and school or board‑level AI policies over the next few years?”
“I agree with transversal skills and all, but I’m wondering, since adequate prompting competency is at the core of proper GenAI use, why we don’t put more emphasis on basic “writing” competency in K-12 education. How can you interact correctly with GenAI if you can’t structure a command properly?”
“I think that is where we should actually work hard to ‘take the human bias’ out of the equation by building AI systems and tools that have diverse data sets. If we did this right, these tools could actually catch our human biases.”
– Indra Kubicek
As the webinar concluded, the panelists urged educators to step up and “own” their role in the AI conversation. AI should not be viewed as a standalone subject, but as a cross-curricular tool that assists in biology, geography, and English alike.
Ultimately, panelists agreed that AI offers an opportunity to return to the heart of education: relationships. By automating administrative tasks, AI could theoretically free educators to spend more time coaching and guiding students.
Marc-André Girard closed with this important reminder stating that:
“The artificial has to enhance the human touch in education… and human agency has to surpass the machine.”
Below, we have compiled the references shared in the chat, along with a selection of relevant Engaged Learning resources, to help extend the conversation and reflection.
> What competencies will students need to succeed in a future with AI?
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