Notley shrugs off Kenney’s curriculum criticism
Notley dismisses Kenney’s accusation of political correctness as light on facts
Premier Rachel Notley says criticisms levelled by United Conservative Party leadership candidate Jason Kenney about a lack of military history in the new Alberta curriculum is a case of “fear mongering.”
“It’s ironic we’re engaging in fear mongering about history and education on the basis of a complete absence of facts,” she told a news conference Tuesday.
Notley, who ushered in the school year at the new Lois E. Hole Elementary School in St. Albert along with Education Minister David Eggen, was responding to a video Kenney posted on his Facebook page Wednesday.
In it, he lambasted the province’s draft social studies curriculum outline for kindergarten to Grade 12.
“If you go through this outline you’re going to see every conceivable theme about political correctness ... but no reference to the critical subjects that help to develop what I would call civic literacy,” he said in the video.
“The worst thing is this: in their entire 13-page social studies draft outline, they don’t mention once Canadian military history.”
The document summarizes guiding questions and the associated concepts for each grade. For example, it includes a guiding question for Grade 9: “To what extent have the legacies of historical interactions among nations and countries shaped worldviews today?”
The possible concepts to teach include “domestic and foreign conflicts” as well as “domestic and international co-operation.”
Eggen said Tuesday the content of the new curriculum has not been determined, explaining it’s a “scope and sequence chart.”
“(It) is a way by which to lay out both themes and skills through different grades and between grades,” he said. “You apply the content of history for example onto the scope and sequence of skills you are teaching kids.”
But Kenney said Tuesday the draft is a detailed outline, containing references to climate change, oppression and colonialism, and suggested Eggen may be backpedalling.
“(There is) no reference to Confederation, to the development of parliamentary democracy, to the rule of law, to economic literacy,” he said.
Eggen said the history of Alberta, Canada and the world, including an emphasis on Indigenous history, will be integrated into the curriculum.