The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Cuts to education funding ­easily cross borders. Education in Alberta isn’t alone in facing reduced funding; Canada’s assistance to overseas teacher education programs in developing countries is in jeopardy.

In February, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) learned that the Canadian ­International Development ­Agency (CIDA) had rejected CTF’s request for funding (see “CIDA will no longer fund CTF’s Project Overseas,” ATA News, February 8, 2011).

It was synchronistic, therefore, for the Alberta Teachers’ Association to hold a symposium on the challenge of funding international assistance programs in a time of fiscal restraint. The invitational symposium was held at Barnett House, in Edmonton, March 25 and 26.

Representatives from international and local NGOs, CTF, the ATA; teacher participants in overseas projects; and university faculty involved in global education listened to speakers and discussed the myriad challenges facing international education initiatives.

Featured speakers were ­Elizabeth Lange, St. Francis ­Xavier University, Nova Scotia; Barbara Macdonald-Moore, director, CTF’s international programs; Pamela Winsor, University of Lethbridge professor and Code representative; Heather ­McPherson, executive director, Alberta Council for Global Cooperation: Sarena Talbot, education program assistant, CoDevelopment Canada (CoDev); and Joan Boras, ­teacher, Palliser Regional Schools and Project IT for ­Dominica representative.

Participants focused on gleaning the collective knowledge and experience of the various organizations in order to design future international assistance education programs. Other discussion topics were program growth, funding, sustainability, participants’ experiences as they relate to curriculum, building relationships with in-country partners and gender equality.

The Canadian Millennium Development Goal Report 2010 reports that Canada’s contribution to foreign aid falls short. Canada currently ranks 14 out of 23 donor countries.

The ATA’s current partners in delivering overseas programs include
CTF, which is almost synonymous with Project Overseas. Participants in this program have provided PD inservice for untrained and under-trained teachers in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean for 50 years.

The ATA partners also with organizations other than CTF to deliver international education programs. Palliser Local No. 19 has been involved for 11 years with Project IT for Dominica, which is supported by the provincial ATA. Code, a partner with whom ATA has had a 30-year longstanding relationship, ­assists with literacy development, library resource development and ­teacher training. At present, Code and the ATA are working on a children’s book project in Tanzania. CoDev works closely with the Federation of Central American Teachers’ Organizations to better women’s standing in the profession and in their respective organizations. Recently, CoDev’s focus has moved from a union leadership perspective to an emphasis on PD that is centered on non-sexist pedagogy.

The ATA’s longstanding commitment to international education, cooperation and sustainable development dates back to 1964, when the first Alberta teachers joined their colleagues in Nigeria as part of Project Overseas. Since that time, more than $3.4 ­million has been donated to Project Overseas and other worthwhile ATA-sponsored projects involving more than 400 Canadian ­teachers.

The symposium developed a foundation on which to build an action plan for ATA international assistance, commented ­Françoise Ruban, ATA executive staff ­officer and symposium organizer. Although Ruban was pleased with participants’ contributions, she noted that much remains to be done in light of current events and federal government cuts to international assistance programs.