ATA has a lot to answer for

The Alberta Teachers’ Association, its members, retired members and fellow travellers appear to be mounting a full-court press in an increasingly defensive seriocomic campaign against the proposals of the Task Force for Teacher Excellence. That the ATA feels so threatened by mere recommendations — and, really, the proposals are rather insipid — is telling.

The ATA is attempting to win friends by pretending to distance itself from Education Minister Jeff Johnson’s less popular innovations and aligning itself with standards and all things good. This is risible.

From the flatulent clichés of Inspiring Education, to the elimination of achievement tests (and with them accountability from the system) to the absurdities of Discovery Learning, the ATA has been one with the department and its minister at the time. It’s only when a minister dares question the ATA’s allencompassing role that the organization starts talking loudly about professionalism and standards.

When Lynden Dorval was fired by the Edmonton public board for failing to enact the no-zero policy, what did the ATA have to say about it? For that matter, what did the minister? What has been the ATA’s contribution to the debate on new math or the curriculum redesign in general?

The ATA exists to maintain its members’ salaries, enviable benefits and pensions, and its own political power and influence. Educating children is merely the occasion for the ATA’s existence, not its raison