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The 12-Year Education Plans Mandate AI Literacy — and Name No Software

Implementation started with the school year. Both sector plans want students to learn about and with AI. Neither names ChatGPT, Copilot, or any other product.

Twelve school steps lit by an AI literacy spark, with an empty dashed box labelled software not named

The Holt government said this week that its two 12-year education plans are now in force with the 2026–27 school year. The press release is about literacy, numeracy, lunches, and staffing. The plans themselves put artificial intelligence on the page as a system-wide skill — and then refuse to name a single product.

That is the story. Policy 311 takes phones out of the day. These documents put AI into the curriculum. They never say ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, PowerSchool, or Brightspace.

What the anglophone plan actually commits

Strong Basics, Bright Futures (2026–2038) gives AI its own chapter, “A System Catalyst.” Students are supposed to learn about AI (how it works and where it fails), learn with AI (transparently, to amplify learning), and learn because of AI — meaning the basics stay first, because the tools will keep changing. “AI is not simply a tool used in a computer science class,” the text says. Humans stay “the drivers of learning.”

Action B.3, AI and Digital Literacy, runs all three years of the first cycle (2026–29). The department will define student competencies, align K–12 curriculum to “responsible technology use,” reframe assessments toward process and critical thinking, and monitor whether digital tools and AI help learning and accessibility.

Two new survey items start this year: the share of Grade 12 students who say they were prepared for the workforce by learning about and using AI, and the share of teachers who feel confident using it in class. There is no baseline yet.

The rest of the tech language is generic on purpose. Literacy is defined to include “digital skills.” Action 1.7 will “explore tools to reduce administrative demands on teachers.” Action A.7 will “explore technological and AI tools” for workload. Action 3.7 will “improve the use of digital platforms” so families can see progress — still no vendor. Action B.6 expands online courses and enrichment.

Consultation notes the paradox: people want better school technology and worry about screens. The plan’s answer is literacy, not a shopping list.

The francophone plan is more operational — still no product

Ensemble pour la réussite! makes compétence numérique a named Grade 6–12 goal (2.6), alongside literacy and numeracy. Action 2.6.1 is a continuum to put digital competence and AI into the programs of study. Action 2.6.2 trains all staff on ethical, intentional, responsible use of AI and digital technologies.

The 2026–29 action plan is the closest thing to a work order:

  • 2.6.1.1 — write the digital-competence and AI continuum. Listed as en cours for 2026–27.
  • 2.6.2.1 — a classroom-practice pilot on ethical, responsible, intentional AI use, with Canadian Heritage as a partner. Not started.
  • 2.6.2.2 — training and resources for staff and students. Not started.
  • 2.6.2.3 — district training on ethical and intentional AI use. Already underway.

Canadian Press flagged the French-sector AI language in June. The documents still do not name the tool the pilot will run on.

The software that does exist is on a different page

The 12-year plans name no commercial software. If you want a product, you have to leave those PDFs.

The department’s digital-learning page is the one that names Brightspace. That is D2L’s learning platform. It is how teachers open New Brunswick Virtual Learning Centre course copies as a resource, and how blended classes get their own editable shells. The NBVLC login sits on nbvhs-nbed.brightspace.com. Course pages also list student-side tools for specific classes — Audacity and the LAME encoder for audio work, Windows Movie Maker or iMovie for video — none of which appear in the 12-year plans.

A 2024 predecessor document, Building a Better Education System, is more concrete than this year’s plans. It promised a provincial technology plan and AI strategy, more Computers for Schools kit, and an expansion of NBVLC beyond Grades 9–12, especially middle-level literacy and numeracy. The 2026 anglophone plan’s B.6 (“expand online learning”) reads like that file without repeating the brand.

Policy 311 is the other operational layer: classroom software for K–8 is supposed to run on school-issued devices on the school network, against an approved-software list the department still has not published as a public catalog. Social platforms get blocked. Laptops stay for high-school BYOD.

So the stack, as of this week, is: phones out, Brightspace in for distance and blended courses, AI literacy written into both 12-year plans, and no provincial pick among the chatbots those plans tell students to understand.

The next public proofs are the competency definitions, the French continuum, and whether those Grade 12 / teacher survey questions actually land on the 2026–27 instruments.

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