Curriculum draft ‘belongs in the trash’, says education critic

EDMONTON – Backlash around the UCP government’s curriculum draft continues to grow as less than 10 per cent of school boards have said they will take part in the pilot program.

NDP Education Critic Sarah Hoffman had some harsh words for the current draft.

“The underlying message is that this curriculum is trash and it belongs in the trash,” she said.

“And they need to be calling people to the table who have been expressing a desire to help them build something that we can all be proud of, including Indigenous leaders, including academics in education.”

Fifty-six of the 61 school boards in Alberta have tossed the draft out.

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Out of the five school districts who said they would conduct the pilot program, three said they would only test a small number of subjects, and two would let teachers decide whether to do it or not.

Hoffman says the UCP is ignoring the feedback it’s been getting from Albertans.

“They are running from this, they’ve got their blinders on, they’ve got their earplugs in. They don’t want people to tell them how terrible this curriculum is but that message is coming from all parts of the province,” she said.

“There is not one urban board that says it wants to pilot this–not one. And I think that sends a really strong message.”

She says the government is trying to push it through to have it finalized by next year and it’s “completely out of touch.”

In response, the UCP says it encourages feedback from teachers and parents before the planned implementation in the fall of 2022.