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GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA, EDUCATION MINISTER JEFF JOHNSON
Education Minister Jeff Johnson’s Task Force for Teaching Excellence released its final report including recommendations to a group of 1300 MLAs, department officials, trustees, superintendents, principals, teachers, parents and students assembled in Edmonton on May 5. The report includes 25 recommendations related to teacher education, development, certification, evaluation, conduct and competency.
While the report contains some recommendations that are designed to support teacher development, others can only be viewed as a direct assault on teachers and the teaching profession.
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE NORTHERN ALBERTA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GLENN FELTHAM
Some of the most offensive recommendations, framed in the most offensive way possible, were leaked from government sources the day before to Rick Bell, columnist for the Calgary Sun, and featured in a late night web post.
Johnson’s task force is recommending changes that would strip teachers of fundamental employment protection, including a recommendation that would extend to school principals “human resource functions” that are now exercised by school boards. Another recommendation would subject teachers to evaluations every five years in order to retain their certification. Curiously, in a report that purports to be about improving teaching practice, the task force also proposes that individuals with trades, fine arts or other professional certification should be granted teaching certificates despite not having completed the professional preparation currently expected of teachers.
The task force also demonstrates a clear lack of understanding related to current conduct and practice review processes. First, it calls for the separation of the functions which are indeed already separate. Second, it uses the term practice review in a recommendation that is meant to deal with conduct. Finally, it calls for greater openness, transparency, timeliness and efficiency without demonstrating an appreciation for the processes already in place.
What will be particularly offensive to teachers are the thinly veiled threats larded into the recommendations. If the Association does not cooperate sufficiently with the government in turning principals from education leaders and professional colleagues into bosses, then it is recommend that “consideration be given to removing principals from the Alberta Teacher’s [sic] Association.”
If it is not sufficiently compliant in the “collaborative transformation of the existing model in which the Alberta Teacher’s [sic] Association continues to have both union and professional development functions….either a Ministry-based model or a separate professional college of teachers is recommended for consideration.” Put simply, Johnson’s task force is using the threat of breaking up the Association to coerce teachers to comply with its other recommendations.
“It astonishes me that when curriculum redesign is in disarray and a petition of thousands of Albertans is questioning the leadership of Jeff Johnson and his department, the government would undermine the very teachers who helped this province become a global leader in education” said Mark Ramsankar, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association. “The core of Alberta’s success is the constructive and collaborative culture created over the years among teachers, government, and school boards – Johnson’s task force is a direct threat to that culture and ultimately to the success of Alberta’s schools.”
Ramsankar points out that teachers and their Association are fully supportive of improving education in Alberta: “We can’t stand still; we need to be moving forward. That is why the Association has made practical, research-based suggestions for improving education in Alberta in publications such as A Great School for All.”
Unfortunately, Johnson’s task force didn’t seem to be terribly interested in listening to the organization that represents 36,000 active teachers in public, separate and francophone schools. “We met with a couple or three members of the task force on two occasions, each meeting lasting a bit over an hour, and we were given a chance to make a submission, hardly sufficient consultation, but just enough for [task force Chair] Feltham to be able to claim that we were engaged” said Ramsankar. The ATA President pointed out that the Association was not advised until the last moment that Johnson was setting up his task force and was not provided with a copy of its report prior to its public release.
“The whole process here is in stark contrast to that used in Alberta’s Commission on Learning. We certainly were opposed to some of the recommendations that came out of that process, but at least teachers felt that they were respected and had a fair opportunity to have their voices heard” said Ramsankar. “The contrast with Minister Dave Hancock’s Inspiring Education process is even starker – that was a truly visionary and representative process that enjoyed the enthusiastic support of teachers and a broad cross section of Albertans – I can certainly tell you that if there is one thing Johnson’s task force report is not, it’s inspiring.”
Complete information concerning the task force’s recommendations were not available in advance of the deadline for this edition of the ATA News. Please visit www.teachers.ab.ca for the most up-to-date information and stay tuned for a special edition of the ATA News coming May 13.
