Kids to learn Alberta is 'most ethical producer of oil in the world' in school

Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides at an announcement about the new draft social studies curriculum on Thursday March 14, 2024. (Darcy Seaton/CTV News Edmonton)

A curriculum framework that calls on teachers to promote Alberta’s oil and gas industry to schoolchildren was quietly published months ago, to the surprise of education experts and the opposition.

The document was published online in April and includes a directive from Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides to teach K-12 students about "Alberta’s reputation as the most ethical producer of oil in the world," and "the importance of natural resources in enabling and sustaining Alberta’s society and Albertans’ quality of life."

Despite the framework being on the government website for six months, University of Alberta education professor Kent den Heyer told the IJF the development process was opaque, and few of his colleagues in the curriculum research community even knew about the minister’s directive.

"I reached out to some of my colleagues, some of whom were leaders of what they would call expert group consultation on social studies, and they had never seen that," he said of the oil and gas directive.

"No one is surprised that that's in there," den Heyer said. "I think they're more surprised that it would be put so boldly."

NDP education critic Amanda Chapman was unaware the document had been published until asked about it by the IJF.

"I would certainly suggest that a document like this be shared widely," said Chapman in an interview, adding that it’s "very concerning" that the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) "wasn’t involved in any kind of consultation on the creation of this document."

While oil and gas are a big part of Alberta’s past, present and future, Chapman said the curriculum should be more inclusive of renewable energy sources like geothermal, wind and solar which were not mentioned in the document.

The Ministry of Education press secretary said the first version of the document was published in 2020. The most recent updates were published on April 26 and an email was sent to stakeholders including the ATA and school boards on the same day.

The ministry didn't answer questions about the nature of the content or who developed it, but said "the framework is intended to provide transparent guidelines to help parents, educators and curriculum developers understand curriculum development in Alberta."

Jason Schilling, president of the ATA, said teachers have consistently been excluded from curriculum development processes in recent years.

Traditionally, curriculums have been developed in collaboration with educators, Schilling said.

"But the way that the government has approached curriculum development the last several years, where they don't include teachers in the conversation, or they don't listen to the experts that they have, we're getting into problems with the curriculum."

Amy von Heyking, a professor at the University of Lethbridge, was on a provincial curriculum advisory panel in 2019.

While the province amasses a group of experts to advise on curriculum development, ultimately the contents of the document are the minister’s decision, von Heyking said.

"Like so much else about curriculum development in this period, we don't know the conversations behind this, or where these decisions are coming from, or who is making those changes, really."

Energy-backed organization lobbying for oil and gas studies

The publication of the document follows reporting from the IJF last December that found a non-profit organization called the Safety in Schools (SiS) Foundation registered a lobbyist asking the government to include oil and gas studies into the junior high and high school curriculum.

The lobbyists listed on the most recent registration, dated Oct. 22, include several people with former ties to the UCP government.

According to its website, SiS gets funding from energy firms TC Energy and Canadian Natural, as well as the Government of Alberta.

On the foundation’s homepage, there is a video of Alberta’s Energy Minister Brian Jean congratulating the organization on its oil and gas education initiatives.

Kim Adolphe, chairperson of SiS, confirmed the foundation has been lobbying for over a year on oil and gas-related education and has met with government officials — including Jean and Ministry of Education representatives — numerous times.

Though SiS has not partnered with the government, Adolphe said SiS has been asked to provide the government with a "proposal" for energy and career literacy programs.

Adolphe said she is "passionate about educating youth on Alberta's energy industry's economic contributions, innovations in emission reduction, and our exceptional environmental record, which is often overlooked or misrepresented."

She said she "believes strongly that young people should understand the importance of natural resources in sustaining not only Alberta's society and quality of life but also that of all Canadians."

She added that a federal cap on emissions "would have a huge economic impact on Alberta and Canada’s economic prosperity and global competitiveness."

In an emailed statement from September, a ministry spokesperson said students learn about oil and gas in the K-12 curriculum, but it is typically part of a broader discussion about the energy sector.

"Students have the option of taking Career and Technology Foundations and Career and Technology studies courses with a focus in the energy industry or they can enrol in a collegiate school that can prepare them for career pathways in multiple industries including the energy sector," said the statement.

"School authorities also have the autonomy to develop locally developed courses that can teach about a variety of different subject matters including the oil and gas industry."

Alberta’s neighbour to the east implementing oil and gas courses

In June, the Government of Saskatchewan announced two new oil and gas courses to be offered to high school students through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre, which entered into an agreement with Calgary-based oil and gas exploration company Teine Energy to develop the courses.

The courses include 50 hours of online theory and 50 hours of work placement sponsored by Teine, which is providing $150,000 over two years to support the development of the courses and to coordinate student work placements.

An oil and gas course for Grade 11 students is to be offered in the second semester of the 2024-25 school year, with the Grade 12-level course to be available in the following school year.

Although the courses are only available through the province’s distance learning centre and not widely taught in schools, Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation president Samantha Becotte objected to the curriculum being "politicized or influenced by industry or sponsorships."

"It should be something that is age appropriate, meets high quality standards and isn’t biased in any way to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of the students, not the industry," she said.

"It’s not addressing those big issues that we continue to talk about with class size and complexity and growing violence within classrooms," she added.

All of the researchers the IJF spoke with said that while curriculum development has always been a political process, it has become increasingly partisan in Alberta.

In 2017, Jason Kenney regularly criticized the NDP government’s decision to redesign school curriculum. Rachel Notley, then the premier, called the critiques "fear-mongering."

When Kenney was elected, he began a curriculum redevelopment process that is still underway. After years of consultation, a new K-6 social studies curriculum was launched in some schools this year.

The province has faced much criticism for not engaging with the teachers who would be putting the curriculum in place during the development process.

Schilling of the ATA said the K-12 framework published in April is unique for this type of document.

"The ideas that are presented here are a little prescriptive. You don't tend to see that in guiding frameworks. That tends to be more of what you would see within the actual curriculum."

Den Heyer said the section about the oil and gas sector "is really fascinating" because the statements "are all highly contentious and questionable." Accepting these statements as fact could, for example, affect the way subjects like science are taught, he added.

While den Heyer said he previously didn’t put too much stock in the effects of a guiding framework for curriculum development, these kinds of documents are becoming more and more important.

Class sizes are getting bigger, the needs of students are increasingly complex and teachers’ prep time is consistently decreasing.

He said this means teachers have less time to develop individual relationships with students and instead are "leaning really hard on this official document, more than they ever have."

Chapman echoed concerns raised by Becotte and den Heyer, saying there are more pressing matters the provincial government should be concerned about when it comes to education.

"We’ve got a lot of strain on our education system right now that is the direct result of this government choosing to fund education at the lowest level in the country," said Chapman.

"I would suggest that if the UCP were serious about wanting to see Alberta’s students succeed, then we would see them making the proper level of investment in our education system so that we can address overcrowding and complexity."