ATA fires back
Teachers want more open communication with province
Alberta teachers want to open conversation about public education with a new report that expresses concern the government’s stance on teaching could “destroy a culture of education.”
Weeks after the Alberta Teachers’ Assocation criticized the government’s Task Force on Teaching Excellence, the report released Sunday offers 25 steps to build a stronger partnership with the government.
The task force was created by Education Minister Jeff Johnson to provide recommendations to support the province’s teachers. However, the ATA slammed the 200-page report in May as an attack on the teaching profession.
In the new report, the ATA calls the recommendations “optimistic and impractical” and says the task force “does not see a teaching profession at all — it’s just a workforce of teachers to be directed by the minister and superintendents.”
It includes suggestions for updating teaching quality standards and preparation programs; increasing funding for teacher support; establishing a curriculum to provide skills training for school and district leaders; and amendments to the Teaching Profession Act.
ATA president Mark Ramsankar said the report is intended to open conversation about the direction of education in Alberta.
“We’ve been asking all along to be a part of the discussion in a meaningful way,” he said. “There are some concepts in here that I think are worth exploring, and solutions can be found so that we can continue to assure the public that the Alberta education system is what we profess it to be.”
The ATA’s response report proposes approaches and reforms aimed at enhancing teacher excellence and public assurance without diminishing the profession, and suggests introducing a provincewide mentorship framework to support teachers in the first three to five years of their career. The report also says the task force’s five-year cycle of reviewing teachers’ professional practice standards is “optimistic and impractical.”
Ramsankar said he hopes the government considers the “solution-based” report as a way of improving the future of education in the province.
“We want to talk about the issues that have been raised, we want to start looking at some of the perceived perceptions that are out there, set the record straight and make sure that we’re all on the same page as we move the agenda forward,” he said.
Alberta Education asked for feedback on the task force report from the public through an online survey on their website that closed June 15. The 19-member Teacher Development and Practice Advisory Committee — half of which is made up of ATA teachers — will also review the task force report and provide feedback.
The government will then decide which recommendations to accept and how to proceed.
Open public dialogue about the educational system is something both the ATA and the government strive for, Ramsankar said.
“Education in our province is a great concern for us,” he said. “Public assurance in the system that we’re involved in is critical and we are interested in that. The association always has been.”