Schools seek curriculum cash

City’s public board pushes for funding to train teachers, implement changes

With the first batch of new Alberta school curricula ready for approval by the end of 2018, Edmonton’s public school board wants a plan and some cash to get ready for the launch.

Public school trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to push the province to cough up money to train teachers and develop classroom resources, and get school districts across the province coordinating in preparation for curriculum hitting classrooms.

“This is a huge undertaking by our province,” trustee Trisha Estabrooks said at a Tuesday school board meeting.

“Smooth implementation in our classrooms for our teachers and our students will be key in this.”

In 2016, the province began the biggest curriculum overhaul in its history, re-writing and co-ordinating all grades at once in both English and French.

Ready first will be grades K-4, then 5-8, with the final high school subjects not expected until late 2022.

Edmonton’s public school district is anxious to see how it looks, what they’ll have to teach, and what resources they’ll need. Before the new expectations take effect, school districts have to teach the teachers what they’re expected to cover.

Training costs money, including the cost of substitute teachers while colleagues learn, said a report to the board. Edmonton public has hired more than 14 full-time curriculum staff to bring the new material to life, the report said.

The board will also ask that school districts be allowed to develop their own resources, rather than contracting for-profit publishers or third-party developers. Resources developed by outsiders sometimes “miss the mark,” superintendent Darrel Robertson said Tuesday.

The new curriculum will have increased emphasis on First Nations, Métis, Inuit and francophone perspectives, and the textbooks and other materials will have to reflect that, said Janice Aubry, director of curriculum and resource support with the district.

Although they’ve previously used meetings for curriculum training, Edmonton public is trying out an online course system with more flexibility, Aubry said.

The education ministry has struck a curriculum implementation advisory committee and a working group to have a plan ready by the end of 2018, Lindsay Harvey, press secretary for Education Minister David Eggen, said in an email.

Of the $64 million allotted over six years for the curriculum revamp, $19 million is budgeted to help bring it to life in classrooms, she said.

Eggen has yet to announce when any new curriculum will be ready for students.