Teachers say curriculum update excluded their input
Alberta teachers say they have once again been abandoned in the UCP’S attempts to update K-12 curriculum, receiving no warning of this week’s reveal of work done so far by an advisory panel with no active teachers.
Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling said Alberta Education gave teachers no notification that the curriculum advisory panel’s recommendations would be public Wednesday, adding teachers must be involved since they are the ones who deliver the curriculum in classrooms every day.
“They provided us with absolutely no advance notification that the report was being released. If outside sources hadn’t tipped us off, we would have been left in the dark by this ministry about a very important initiative affecting public education,” Schilling said.
“This is yet another example of the lack of respect this government has for the teachers who play such an important role in the implementation of curriculum.”
Education Minister Adriana Lagrange held a media event this week releasing what she called a “new vision” for kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum after the UCP put a halt on the former NDP government’s curriculum overhaul last spring.
Highlights include a focus on work readiness, financial literacy, Indigenous knowledge and a move away from Discovery Math, much of which is already happening in Alberta schools.
But education officials could not provide specific details on how the province’s “new vision” differs from what is already embedded in the curriculum, suggesting the work recently done by the former NDP government was a strong foundation.
The ATA is also concerned that as work continues on the panel, no active teachers are involved in the process.
Bob Cocking, president of ATA Local 38 representing Calgary public school teachers, said since the UCP’S election in April 2019, the government has essentially cut off all communication with teachers.
“It’s really unfortunate because we’ve had good relationships with previous governments, and we’ve always been included in curriculum development.
“And that’s not just the previous NDP government, but even the Conservative government before them. We had always been involved.”
Mario Vergara, president of ATA Local 55 representing Calgary separate school teachers, agreed, adding, “We are the front-line people working with children every day. We should be involved.”
The ATA has criticized the UCP’S curriculum advisory panel since its inception in August 2019 for not including any active teachers, or any members of the ATA. The 12-member panel mainly includes members of the private sector and academics from post-secondary institutions across Alberta.
“This process seems to be another example of this government’s pattern of striking panels to deliver predetermined advice without meaningful consultation with the stakeholders most affected,” Schilling said.
At the Wednesday unveiling of the panel’s work, the panel’s chair, Angus Mcbeath, and the vice-chair, Jen Panteluk, were not in attendance.
When Postmedia asked for a followup phone interview with either one of them, UCP education officials refused to make them available, then added the ATA should not expect unique access to the panel’s work.
“It’s surprising that teachers’ union bosses believe that they should have had special access to the panel’s report before parents, individual teachers and the general public,” said Colin Aitchison, press secretary for the education minister.
“The panel met with the union to get their input while the report was being written.”
But Schilling explained the only time the ATA was invited to meet with the panel was back in November for an hour, and only four of the 12 panel members were present.
“When we talk about input, the question is how meaningful this was,” he said.
“Curriculum rewrite is highly complex and we would like to be part of that for more than an hour. Instead, the UCP uses negative language like ‘union bosses’ any time they address the ATA.
“I am not a union boss. I am a high school English and drama teacher elected by the teachers of Alberta to represent them.”