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An Open Letter Regarding Teacher Consultation on the 2021 Draft K–6 Curriculum

December 7, 2021

 

Dear Albertans, 

As members of the Government of Alberta’s curriculum working groups in December 2020, we are teachers who were selected to provide feedback on the draft K–6 curriculum that was publicly released in March 2021.

We were prohibited from speaking up before now due to nondisclosure agreements, and we honoured those agreements. However, due to questions about this draft curriculum and how it was developed and comments from the government that misled the public about how they have “consulted with teachers,” we feel a professional obligation to speak up.

From our perspective, as some of the few teachers who were provided an opportunity to give feedback on the draft curriculum before public release, the government’s consultations with teachers lacked authenticity and meaning. It was a performative, two-day meeting seemingly designed just to check the box for teacher consultation. 

We took the responsibility of reviewing the curriculum seriously, and were prepared to offer constructive, useful feedback on the draft in the two days we had available to us. Unfortunately, the process made it difficult to do so.

There was too much content and too little time to thoroughly review it. Most of us did not have access to the materials until the day of the meeting, and technical issues prevented many from reading it until later in the day. Each group was assigned to review the K–6 draft outcomes for one of the six subject areas under review; the volume of material required us to review up to 100 pages in just a few hours. When we got into the drafts, some subject material contained a large number of mistakes or errors that needed to be addressed, which further inhibited our ability to meaningfully discuss the merits of the content.

Our ability to discuss this volume of material with any level of detail was very limited. However, because we know the importance to our students and colleagues of a quality curriculum, we persisted and set out to offer the best feedback we could. That feedback, however, was not adequate to address the concerns many of us identified with the drafts.

Most of us have been left with the impression that the government wasn’t really interested in constructive feedback. The experience was deflating and disappointing to the point that some of us requested that our names be removed from connection with this curriculum.

When we look at the drafts that were released publicly against the ones that we viewed in December, it is clear that much of the feedback was not appropriately considered. We are hard-pressed to identify any significant changes that were made as a result of the feedback we provided. Yet government officials regularly pointed to our work as validation for the draft, which was especially frustrating given that we continued to be under a nondisclosure order.

Although there are some positive changes in several subject areas, overall this curriculum is not up to the standards that students deserve and that teachers and Albertans expect. No curriculum will be usable by teachers or ready for students unless the teaching profession is appropriately and genuinely consulted.

We care about students and about developing a curriculum worthy of them. As professionals and colleagues, we are prepared to participate in such consultation, but it must be authentic, it must be comprehensive and it must be meaningful. This, unfortunately, was not. 

 

Valerie Browne, science working group member

Gillian Dunn, social studies working group member

Alex Funk, English language arts working group member

Annie Greeno, social studies working group member

Deborah Hawkins, fine arts working group member

Cammie Kannekens, social studies working group member

Sam Livingstone, English language arts working group member

Marliss Visser, social studies working group member

A teacher from the fine arts working group