UCP government pushing ahead with new curriculum, ATA president calls for process to 'stop'

Clock ticks down to new curriculum Some experts are worried that as the province presses to implement its controversial new curriculum that teachers won’t have time to prepare

The provincial government is moving ahead with a new curriculum in schools this fall, some are worried teachers won’t have enough time to properly prepare to teach it.

“We must give students the foundations for successful futures now more than ever,” said Education Minister Adriana LaGrange on Thursday.

Educators are raising concerns that they aren’t being given the same foundation for success if the government goes ahead with implementing the curriculum in the fall.

“I don’t think that’s a lot of time for teachers to be very well prepared and feel confident implementing a brand new curricula,” said Carla Peck, a social studies professor at the University of Alberta.

The UCP government said it wants the new math and English curriculum in place for students between Kindergarten and Grade 3 in September.

The curriculum has faced heavy criticism since it was first revealed.

“Since day one of the curriculum renewal process I’ve been very clear that every Albertan has a say and I have committed to the most open and transparent curriculum review process our province has ever seen,” said LaGrange.

Online public consultation for the curriculum ended around two weeks ago, the final, revised version will be released in April.

“That’s only 20 days from now, that’s not a lot of time to really make substantive changes to a curriculum,” said Peck.

“It’s unlikely to me that there would be a readymade textbook that is going to match exactly what is prescribed in the curriculum and to try and develop those in a very short time period seems next to impossible to me.”

She added that pushing the curriculum through will add pressure on teachers to give up their own time in order to get ready to teach it.

“That to me is very unfair to put on teachers after the past two years that they’ve had that have been so stressful.”

The president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, Jason Schilling, pointed to a recent poll showing that “Albertans and especially teachers do not support this curriculum.”

“It’s just time to stop,” added Schilling. “What we need to do is go back, start going through the curriculum and redeveloping it in a way that engages the profession in a meaningful way.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson