Does the school curriculum need an update? ATA says ‘yes’
Posted August 26, 2019 8:54 pm.
Last Updated August 27, 2019 1:05 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) — “We’re dealing in some aspects of the curriculum that is decades old,” said Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teacher’s Association.
Schilling said an update to the curriculum is needed, but since the province appointed an independent panel to review education on Thursday, he isn’t sure if changes will come or not.
“Which is why we had the memorandum of understanding where we had a partnership with the Government of Alberta and Alberta Education to look at curriculum updates.”
The association was supposed to be co-leading an effort with Alberta’s education ministry to update the curriculum, but the UCP government has since ended the partnership that had been created under previous NDP leadership.
But in its campaign platform, the UCP promised to include teachers in the party’s curriculum review.
Schilling added the curriculum needs to be modernized as society has changed and evolved since the last updates.
“In my humble opinion, not including teachers in the Advisory Panel is ridiculous and offensive to our students. It would be the same as placing me on a panel to advise the oil and gas industry on how to produce more oil. Or–even more laughable–including me on an advisory panel to help doctors complete heart transplants,” said educator Jennifer Marie in a Facebook post.
READ MORE: Alberta Teachers’ Association has concerns over curriculum review
“What I find appalling about the current situation in Alberta is that someone like myself (with an MEd in Social Studies Curriculum & Instruction) is being excluded from the consultation process for the UCP’s absurd Advisory Panel. Not a SINGLE teacher who is currently in the classroom is included. The Minister of Education has stated that teachers are the ATA and only care about teachers [sic],” she added.
The NDP’s school curriculum review was in the process of moving towards concept-based learning, however, it was never completed as the UCP came into power in May.
Premier Jason Kenney had accused the NDP of putting its own ideologies and views into the curriculum.
“Removing political agendas from, for example, the Social Studies curriculum that I believe were being smuggled into the curriculum by the NDP in a highly politicized way,” Kenney said earlier this month.
READ MORE: Panel to oversee Alberta’s school curriculum review: Kenney
He stated that the UCP’s review process would be done differently than the NDP’s, promising transparency. Bill 8, known as the Education Amendment Act, was introduced on June 5.
The last time the subjects were updated:
The review panel established by the UCP includes the following members:
Angus McBeath – Chair: Former superintendent of Edmonton Public Schools, former teacher, and principal.
Jen Panteluk – Vice-Chair: Former CEO of Junior Achievement’s Northern Alberta and Northwest Territories branch.
Amy von Heyking: Associate professor of education at the University of Lethbridge.
Andy Neigel: CEO of Careers: The Next Generation, a non-profit organization aimed at helping youth get internships in healthcare, trades, and industrial technologies.
Ashley Berner: Deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and associate professor of education at Hopkins.
Glenn Feltham: President and CEO of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton.
Keray Henke: Former deputy minister of education.
Martin Mrazik: Professor of educational psychology at the University of Alberta.
Miles Smit: Co-founder of the Petrarch Institute.
Nhung Tran-Davies: Author, Doctor, and Founder of the Children of Vietnam Benevolent Foundation, a charity assisting Vietnamese children.
Paulette Hanna: Associate vice-president academic at Red Deer College.
Sharon Carry: Former president and CEO of Bow Valley College in Calgary.
-with files from Megan McPhaden.
