The Alberta Teachers’ Association

ATA conducts public opinion polling on teaching excellence

In October 2013, Minister Jeff Johnson’s Task Force for Teaching Excellence began public consultations as part of efforts to gather data to inform recommendations. Shortly after the consultations opened, the ATA began hearing concerns about the consultation process.

​In January 2014, the ATA contracted Environics Research Group to conduct a scientific opinion poll of a randomly selected and representative sample of Albertans on issues of teacher excellence as well as an environmental scan of publicly available data. Here’s what was found.

On teaching excellence

Our research found that the public was generally quite satisfied with the quality of teaching in schools, but it also showed that Albertans feel that teachers have a hard job that is affected by influences outside of their control, including lack of supports and large class sizes.

• 99% of principals, 97% of school board trustees, 95% of students and 87% of parents are satisfied with the quality of teaching at their schools (Alberta Education satisfaction surveys, 2013).
• Seven in ten (69%) Albertans believe teachers have a harder time providing high quality education now than in the past (Environics, May 2011).
• Top factors Albertans say make a teacher’s job challenging (unprompted): high class size/ratio – 52%; lack of resources or support – 43%; lack of discipline or authority – 34%; high diversity in the classroom – 13% (Environics, Jan 2014).
• 79% of Albertans think availability of resources and learning supports are important factors affecting education quality (Environics, Feb 2013).
• 75% of Albertans think the number of students in a class is an important factor affecting education quality (Environics, Feb 2013).
• 60% of Albertans feel that class sizes in Alberta’s schools are too large (Environics, Jan 2014).

On principals

The Task Force for Teaching Excellence reports that 68% of respondents to their consultation say that principals should have more authority than they do now. Somehow, it uses that statistic to support a recommendation that principals should be given more human resource functions. Our data shows that Albertans feel that the current amount of authority for principals is about right and that principals should remain as members of the ATA.

• Six in ten Albertans think that principals have the right amount of authority currently. Two in ten think they should have more authority (Environics, Jan 2014).
• 70% of Albertans feel that principals should remain part of the teachers’ association versus only 19% who feel they should not.

On the ATA’s professional functions

While the task force proposes to remove professional responsibilities from the Association, most Albertans support the ATA having the same functions as it does now. At the same time, three times as many Albertans think the ATA should have more professional functions than those who think it should have less.

• 79% of Albertans think the ATA should have at least as many professional functions as they do now—47% say maintain current rates, 32% say more professional functions for the ATA (Environics, Jan 2014).
• 11% of Albertans think the ATA should have fewer professional functions (Environics, Jan 2014).

On teacher certification

Johnson’s task force recommended that there be an increase in the use of non-certified instructors, yet our polling shows that Albertans think current requirements are about right, and some think requirements should be made stricter.

• 70% of Albertans feel that current requirements about who is authorised to teach is about right; 10% believe that those requirements are not strict enough (Environics, Jan 2014).

On teacher conduct

A number of recommendations are directed at changing teacher conduct processes, but our polling shows that most Albertans are unfamiliar with the processes that are currently in place. Public education may be more important than making changes to processes.

• 27% of Albertans expressed familiarity with the process used to regulate teacher conduct (Environics, Jan 2014).
• 57% of Albertans are at least somewhat confident that complaints about teacher conduct are addressed effectively (Environics, Jan 2014).
• 75% of those who cite familiarity with the processes also say they are confident in it (Environics, Jan 2014).

On teacher competency

Again Albertans seem unfamiliar with the processes in place for monitoring teacher competency, but the data demonstrates that those who are familiar with the processes are confident in them.

• Only 22% of Albertans expressed some familiarity with current processes in place to regulate teacher competency (Environics, Jan 2014).
• 47% of Albertans are at least somewhat confident that complaints about teacher competency are addressed effectively (Environics, Jan 2014).
• But, among people who are familiar with the processes, the level of confidence rises to 58% (Environics, Jan 2014).

The Environics January 2014 report shows the findings of a telephone survey conducted among 806 adult Albertans interviewed during the period from January 13–24, 2014. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.