The Alberta Teachers’ Association

ATA committee supports inclusive education

Alberta’s rapidly changing demographics are creating a rich cultural diversity that is reflected in the province’s urban and rural classrooms. The schools’ new landscape provides an ideal setting in which to teach students that strength lies in diversity. The challenge for teachers is to capitalize on the energy of today’s intercultural classroom mix to lay the groundwork for all students to succeed. To support teachers in their critical roles as leaders in inclusive education, the Alberta Teachers’ Association established the Diversity, Equity and Human Rights (DEHR) committee in 2000.

The DEHR committee assists educators in their legal, professional and ethical responsibilities to protect all students and to maintain safe, caring and inclusive learning environments. Topics of focus for DEHR include intercultural education, inclusive learning communities, gender equity, the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network, sexual orientation and gender variance.

Activities of the DEHR Committee

• Studying, advising and making recommendations on policies that reflect respect for diversity, equity and human rights
• Offering Inclusive Learning Communities grants (up to $2,000) to support school-based projects that support inclusion
• Producing Just in Time, an electronic newsletter that can be found at www.teachers.ab.ca, under Publications
• Providing and creating print- and web-based teacher resources
• Supporting the Association instructor workshops on diversity
• Coordinating the work of its four ad hoc subcommittees

The DEHR committee has created numerous resources and workshops to help teachers create safe, welcoming, inclusive environments for all students. For example, Here Comes Everyone—Teaching in the Intercultural Classroom is a teacher resource designed to help school staff build and sustain educational practices that honour and reflect intercultural perspectives. It provides practical advice to teachers on how to communicate and interact more effectively with students and their families, wherever they come from, whatever their culture, traditions, ethnicity, language group, race, colour, sexual orientation or religion. Complimentary copies of Here Comes Everyone are available from the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

More information about the work of DEHR can be found on the ATA website www.teachers.ab.ca, under Teaching in Alberta, Diversity, Equity and Human Rights. Alternatively, feel free to contact Andrea Berg, ATA executive staff officer, Professional Development, at andrea.berg@ata.ab.ca.

Diversity, equity and human rights affect the work of all teachers and students. What are you doing to make a difference?