The Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling is applauding teachers and parents for their advocacy for adjusted K-6 curriculum timelines, changes to the design of the social studies curriculum, and more engagement opportunities.
Since Sept. 2021, approximately 360 teachers have been piloting the draft K-6 curriculum with about 7,800 students across the province.
“This change would never have happened without that tireless effort. When you advocate for students, it works. However, our work must continue,” Schilling said. “While this is a step in the right direction toward fixing this curriculum mess, there are still significant issues with the proposed content for the language arts, math, and phys ed and wellness programs.
The government of Alberta has been listening to all of the input from Albertans on the draft curriculum and is now taking steps to address feedback collected from parents, teachers, and subject matter experts.
“Our government committed to a transparent and open review process for curriculum, and we are keeping that promise. We have listened to the valuable insights provided by parents, education stakeholders, teachers, and Albertans and are making significant content and implementation changes to reflect this. The steps we are taking now will ensure our students are learning from an updated curriculum that prepares them for the future,” Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange said.
“Never forget that the reason the past draft was so bad is because this government failed to properly and meaningfully involve teachers in its development. Despite today’s positive developments, all indicators suggest the government will continue to repeat this fundamental mistake. We released our comprehensive report of teacher feedback on the curriculum in September, but still have not been invited to meet with ministry officials to discuss its content,” Schilling said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted timelines, the new curriculum in English Language Arts and Literature, Mathematics, and Physical Education and Wellness will be implemented in September 2022.
Alberta Education will seek advice from an advisory group of education and curriculum implementation experts early in 2022 to ensure the course for success.
“The pandemic has had many impacts on students, including learning disruptions, particularly in the early years we’re building strong foundational reading, writing, and numeracy skills are critical. Providing strengthened English and Mathematics curriculums for the upcoming school year will further help young students catch up,” LaGrange said.
A draft blueprint of the Social Studies curriculum will address feedback received related to the age and developmental appropriateness of the curriculum and will lay out a plan for content changes.
The blueprint will ensure students learn historical content, build civic skills, explore First Nations, Métis, and Inuit and Francophone perspectives and learn about different cultures and communities.
Changes have been made to English Language Arts and Literature, Physical Education and Wellness, Fine Arts, and Science to the curriculums to add clarity, strengthen content as well as expand key topics such as positive body image, climate change, and dinosaurs.
However, there are areas that have not yet been addressed, including changes related to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit and Francophone perspectives in subject areas outside of Social Studies.
The government is continuing to work with education partners and community stakeholders to gather feedback on these critical areas before changes will be made in the spring.
“Let me emphasize one more thing. The only reason changes are being announced today is because we stood up. Because we dared to stand up to them, the government is now attacking us on our professional side. But sharing our concerns about this flawed curriculum was driven by that professional side. Which is exactly why they want to de-professionalize the Association and exactly why we cannot let them,” Schilling said.
“There is a lot of work ahead of us. They still don’t have the curriculum right; students are still learning in oversized classes; funding cuts are looming in the spring budget, and the government opened a whole new front last week in the attack on public education. We will continue to stand for education,” he said.
In January and February, there will be new engagement opportunities for Albertans to share their feedback on the updated draft content, and the blueprint for Social Studies.
Feedback from community engagement and classroom piloting will be considered in Spring 2022 and will be used to finalize the Social Studies blueprint, develop the corresponding draft Social Studies curriculum and further revise all subjects in the draft K-6 curriculum.
