Professor resigns from curriculum working group

EDMONTON A University of Alberta education professor has resigned from the province’s social studies curriculum working group over ongoing concerns about the process and design of the most ambitious school overhaul in Alberta’s history.

Lindsay Gibson took to Twitter to explain his reasons for resigning including the fact that while Alberta Education staff had met with him on the occasions he raised concerns, nothing ever changed.

In particular, Gibson said recommendations made by teachers in a 2016 Alberta Teachers’ Association survey had not been “adequately considered or addressed” and key issues and debates in social studies education had not been discussed at working group meetings.

He also said that much of the work completed during the meetings “has been altered or revised by Alberta Education staff” in between meetings and that too many decisions about the design and structure of the curriculum were made before the group ever met and that Alberta Education had “proven to be unwilling to make any changes to the design and structure.”

Alberta Education, he continued, has “ignored decades of research that has identified key procedural concepts in social studies” education and runs counter to best practices in social studies curriculum design.

Gibson has close to 20 years of experience as a public school social studies teacher and was a member of British Columbia’s social studies curriculum writing team.

Gibson said Thursday he’d been talking to colleagues and friends in education about his concerns for a while leading up to his resignation.

He reiterated that he could not take part in a process that ignored current research and trends but added that it was not too late to make “substantive changes.”

“This is not about throwing the baby out with the bathwater. This is not about throwing out what’s been done so far, but it is a refocusing on some aspects,” he said.

Gibson said because every subject is being simultaneously modified, a generic framework to guide the development is being used. And that’s a problem.

“This generic approach has forced all of these subject areas to give up some of the things that makes them unique and powerful to try and make them the same,” he said. “But they are not the same, they are different and we want students to be thinking in a variety of different ways.”

Gibson said he received an email from Alberta Education who wanted to reach out and meet to discuss what other ways he might be able to work with them in the future.