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ATA EXECUTIVE SECRETARY GORDON THOMAS
Hearkening back to the earliest days of Barnett House history, ATA Executive Secretary Gordon Thomas assured attendees that he had decided “not to emulate the practice of the ATA’s first general secretary-treasurer, the legendary Dr John Barnett, who read the entire annual report into the record at each annual meeting for the 28 years of his tenure.” Instead, Thomas promised to report only on the highlights of the annual report.
Two developments proved most significant in 2013: the Assurance for Students Act was passed in 2013, legislating the proposed framework agreement, and the Task Force for Teaching Excellence was established. Thomas wondered, though, how the task force, which was struck in September, “was able to meet in the summer before its creation. It probably involved a Ouija board or a 21st-century time machine.”
Only two of the twenty-five recommendations in the Task Force for Teaching Excellence focus on classroom support, observed Thomas, while the majority focus on accountability through surveillance, inspection and direction. “Teachers need support,” he said. “Not layers of 19th-century accountability measures.”
Reflecting on some of the more troubling aspects of the task force report became something of a history lesson for delegates.
The “hidden recommendation” on the board of reference, for example, appears to deal with professional conduct issues. But scratch the surface and the implications suggest otherwise. “Of course, it’s about the employment relationship with a school board. Get rid of reinstatement and put a cap on awards,” said Thomas. In 2004 and 2005, teachers faced similar situations when changes to the School Act limited the possibility of reinstatement. “Since I became associate executive secretary in 1998, this is the fourth effort to eliminate the board of reference or limit its capacity. It’s really about allowing boards to fire teachers without cause.”
The recommendation on recertification also channels familiar territory. Thomas recounted the story of how, in 1997, the ATA obtained leaked documents from the government “contemplating a recertification scheme for Alberta teachers.” Teachers responded swiftly and vehemently. “MLAs reported hearing an earful and the initiative, which we were told was not really under consideration at all, was abandoned,” said Thomas.
Thomas also criticized the report’s suggestion to return to cyclical evaluation of teachers (a practice that was terminated in 1998) and the threat to remove principals from the ATA if task force recommendations are not adopted (an issue that the Association fought in 2002).
While individual recommendations raise questions and eyebrows, the overarching perspective of the report is its most disconcerting feature. “It does not paint a collegial, unified teaching profession. It paints a system run by managers (superintendents and principals) whose job it is to inspect, monitor and direct. That’s not what we understood Inspiring Education to be about.”
Thomas concluded his address by encouraging teachers to weather the storms ahead and “ensure we can do what we want to do—teach our students—and help them fulfill their dreams, their hopes, their futures.” ❚
