‘We need to take a holistic approach’: Alberta premier explains committee that will analyze classroom complexity

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she will head a cabinet committee to review the findings of her government's task force on class size and complexities in schools.

Alberta premier Danielle Smith said Saturday that complex, overcrowded classrooms need a new committee to find a practical solution to issues that have dominated negotiations between the province and Alberta teachers.

Friday, Smith and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides announced the creation of the Class Size and Complexity Cabinet Committee.

“These issues create challenges for teachers, educational assistants as well as students and we want to work with you to deal with them head-on,” Smith told reporters in Calgary.

The new committee came months after the province established a 25-member panel of experts to examine the challenges of class sizes and complexities in Alberta, and days after the government passed Bill 2, forcing teachers back to work.

Saturday morning on her radio program Your Province, Your Premier, the premier explained the thinking behind the latest committee.

“There needs to be cross-ministry coordination, because kids we’re dealing with have complex needs,” she said. “Some of them may have files with children’s services, so we’ve got the children’s services minister at the table.

“Some of them might be individuals who need support for the rest of their lives, so we have (the minister of) assisted living and social services at the table.

“Some of them have severe mental health issues and so we’ve been rolling out classrooms with mental health supports,” she said. “That’s why we need the minister of Mental Health and Addiction at the table.”

“This is the approach that we think is going to be able to leverage all of the dollars that we have to support these kids with very, very high needs – and make sure we’re creating a more calm and peaceful and less chaotic teaching environment for teachers."

ATA included in new committee

The committee will include 11 people, including Smith and Nicolaides.

The rest of the members are as follows:

• Jason Nixon, minister of Assisted Living and Social Services;
• Rick Wilson, minister of Mental Health and Addiction;
• Searle Turton, minister of Child and Family Services;
• Lynnette Anderson, chief superintendent, Edmonton Catholic Schools;
• Nicole Buchanan, chair, Red Deer Public Schools;
• Marilyn Dennis, former president of Alberta School Boards Association;
• Mike McMann, superintendent, Fort Vermilion Schools and president, College of Alberta School Superintendents;
• Joanne Pitman, chief superintendent, Calgary Board of Education; and
• Elissa Corsi, Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA).

No ATA representative was included in the June committee, which was tasked with reviewing policies, teacher training, inclusive education supports, funding considerations and coordination across sectors when it comes to classroom complexity.

“(Not) including the Alberta Teachers’ Association (in June) as a primary partner is yet another example of this government’s reluctance to acknowledge teachers as experts in education. The inclusion of teachers’ lived experiences is necessary and invaluable to this work,” ATA officials said.

This time around, Nicolaides said he plans to seek teacher input.

“Apart from individuals that are specifically represented, the committee will be reaching out to different stakeholder groups, organizations and individuals, inviting them to come in to share a perspective or if we have particular questions,” he said.

‘Holistic approach’

Saturday, show host Wayne Nelson asked Smith why classroom size wasn’t the responsibility of individual school boards.

“We’ve been scratching our heads trying to find out because we’ve been looking at the numbers,” Smith said. “We saw that we have 51,000 teachers, 750,000 students and if you do the basic math on that, class sizes should be 13, 14 to 1.”

She said the numbers might be skewed because of the number of teachers who aren’t in the classroom.

“The reason why (you can’t average it out) is that there are a lot of teachers who aren’t teaching in the classroom and that’s the question that we have: is it time to convert some of those substitute teachers into full-time teachers so that you have more hands on deck?

“The curriculum specialists – maybe it’s time for them, instead of doing administrative work, maybe they need to take on a classroom,” she added.

The other aspect that could help ease the problems teachers face is the allocation of education assistant resources, she said.

“You look at some school districts and they have a high number of education assistants, then there are others that have a very low number.

“If we have the same complexity across the board, you do need to have those extra hands to be able to do small classroom support, to be able to help the kids with additional learning needs and medical needs,” she said, “so that’s why we need to take a holistic approach.”

Different situations, different districts

She said the province feels the problems of complexity and classroom size are most acute in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer school districts, which is why they added representatives from all three districts to the committee.

“We’re going to identify those classrooms with the greatest complexity and greatest class size, and we’re just going to allocate the resources and start solving it,” she said.

When Nelson pointed out that different districts have different situations, Smith agreed, saying that was what made it a challenge to negotiate.

“You just made the point of exactly why we couldn’t commit to that at the bargaining table, either,” she said.

“They wanted us to commit to a particular pupil-teacher ratio and as I’ve told you about the (issue of classroom) complexity, some teachers are principals, some are assistant principals, some are curriculum leads – there are many who are out of the classroom and so you could end up agreeing to a (particular teacher-to-student) ratio and still not achieve the (desired) outcome.

“We want to achieve the outcome.”

Charter challenge

Friday, Smith defended the government’s use of the notwithstanding clause to order teachers back to work after the ATA announced Thursday that it will legally challenge Bill 2.

“This legal action is not symbolic; it is necessary. We’re standing up for the Charter itself, for the rule of law, and for the limits that protect citizens from arbitrary government decisions,” ATA President Jason Schilling said.

Our message to the government is simple," Schilling said. “You may not silence teachers in the legislature with Bill 2, but you cannot silence them in the courts.”

“Our message to Albertans is equally clear: This fight belongs to you, too, because if the government can do this to teachers today, it can do it to nurses, to paramedics, to tradespeople, to anyone tomorrow.”

With files from CTV’s Michael Franklin, Alex Antoneshyn and Kevin Green