The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Tim Johnston

For many of us in the teaching profession, specialist councils have been part of our lives throughout our careers. My affiliation with them started in my first year of teaching. The president of the Lethbridge regional of the Social Studies Council, Wendel Mills, was effective in making sure new teachers were initiated in the specialty.

Specialist councils predated my entry into teaching by 11 years. The establishment of specialist councils was approved at the 1960 Annual General Meeting (now the Annual Representative Assembly) upon passage of Resolution C47/60: “BE IT RESOLVED, that the formation of specialist councils be approved for the purpose of improving practice in the various specialties.” The Association guaranteed $100 per year for each council and committed to providing guest speakers for annual specialist council functions.

Speaking to the resolution, then-Executive Secretary Stan Clarke said that specialist councils were intended to channel the special interests of teachers and their efforts in curriculum work. In a 1959 report prepared for Provincial Executive Council (PEC), Clarke warned of the threat to the Association posed by the proliferation of special interest groups, and especially a principals’ association, if steps were not taken to keep all of them within the structure of the ATA. “Special interest organizations have many advantages but must be organized logically within the structure of one comprehensive association if the interests of education are to be properly safeguarded,” Clarke wrote.

The Association’s guidelines were adjusted to deal with the formation of specialist councils and included a requirement that 50 signatures of potential members be collected prior to establishment. Over the summer of 1960, this requirement was met and, at the September meeting of PEC, approval was given for the formation of six specialist councils—English, social studies, mathematics, science, modern languages, and a principals’ council. The founding presidents were: T.F. Rieger, Picture Butte, Mathematics Council; Mrs. Jean Saville, Hardisty, English Council; J.A. McDonald, Medicine Hat, Science Council; Miss Elizabeth Duff, Calgary, Social Studies Council; A.J. Shandro, Glendon, Modern Language Council; and E.J.L. Guertin, Fairview, Council on School Administration.

By February 1961, five additional councils had been formed—business education, industrial arts, home economics, physical education and guidance—and inaugural conferences for all 11 councils were planned. The English Council met at the Edmonton Jubilee Auditorium and heard a keynote address by Harold Allen, president of the National Council of Teachers of English, University of Minnesota. Over 70 teachers attended and, following the conclusion of the conference, they convened at the Derrick Club for a wrap-up banquet. Red Deer hosted the first Guidance Council conference, and teachers listened to Franklin Zeran, dean of the School of Education, Oregon State College. Bonnie Doon Composite High School (now Vimy Ridge Academy) hosted the first conference of the Council on School Administration. E.J. Ingram, ATA staff officer responsible for specialist councils, told the gathering of school principals that the initiation of specialist councils “is probably the most significant activity undertaken by the ATA in many years and will no doubt be the major professional activity of the Association in the years to come.”

Another first in the evolution of specialist councils took place in August 1961 at the Banff School of Fine Arts (now the Banff Centre). Provincial Executive Council deemed that one important way to assist specialist councils would be to bring their executive members together once a year for a “family conference.” Twenty-seven teachers representing the councils, five out-of-province guests, a guest from the Department of Education and another from the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, and 10 members of PEC met at what can be described as the first Specialist Council Seminar. A gracious gesture was the presentation of inscribed gavels and sounding blocks to each of the council presidents. R. Stonehocker, president of the Industrial Arts Council, presented the gavels, which were specially made by industrial arts teachers across the province.

As councils grew in membership and stature, new initiatives were proposed. In 1966, the Mathematics Council hosted the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics at the Calgary campus of the University of Alberta. The regional Social Studies Council in Calgary worked with the Calgary Herald on a five-part seminar entitled “The Role of the Newspaper in the Classroom.” The Council on School Administration sponsored a five-day workshop at the University of Alberta for members of student councils from high schools across the province. In his column in the ATA Magazine (February 1966), ATA President M.W. McDonnell reported on the growing support provided to specialist councils by the ATA with respect to staff officer support and increased funding. He noted that 3,700 teachers had become council members by the end of 1965, up from 2,700 in 1964. He also noted some growing pains when it came to establishing a reasonable grant structure, collecting fees, keeping membership lists current and solving problems related to council publications.

One recurring theme during the early years was the difficulty elementary teachers had with the notion of being “specialists.” The fact that most elementary teachers were generalists by the nature of their assignments worried the leaders of the established councils. Steps were taken to ensure that programs of all councils included portions that would be attractive to elementary teachers but the issue remained as a serious concern. In the February 1967 issue of the ATA Magazine, Arthur Kratzmann, professor of elementary education at the University of Alberta, reported on the organization of the Early Childhood Council. In his article, Kratzmann spoke of the “cruciality of early childhood education,” noting that from birth to age 10, a person accumulates half the learning he or she will ever acquire. “Those charged with responsibility for the child’s formal education at this level are pretty important people in the developmental scheme of things. We salute ourselves—the pre-school and primary educators of this province!” Kratzmann said he looked forward to the world’s largest council of this kind doing the best job possible to enhance the professional status and performance of “those who have the privilege and courage to teach children in their most critical years.”

For 48 years, specialist councils have served the profession and its practitioners brilliantly. The decision to adopt universal specialist council membership for all active members of the Association, taken at the 2007 Annual Representative Assembly, underscores the important service specialist councils provide in the professional lives of teachers and reinforces the wisdom and vision of our specialist council founders.