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The following media excerpts do not necessarily reflect the views of the ATA.
The great debate
Alberta’s education minister, Jeff Johnson, had his job reviewed this past week and failed remarkably. The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) gave Johnson a failing grade for the province’s Task Force on Teaching Excellence Report.
One of the primary elements of this report is a recommendation to have teachers’ job performance evaluated every five years. …
Job reviews are a good thing. Is the ministry of education the best entity to conduct that review?
Debatable.
Editorial, Cochrane Eagle, May 22, 2014
Big issues escape task force consideration
At first blush, the recent report from Alberta’s Task Force for Teaching Excellence appears to provide a number of helpful recommendations for improving teacher quality, and preparation and support for principals. …
The task force report notes that Alberta’s education system faces a number of challenges, yet fails to fully acknowledge the wider systemic factors that are affecting system performance such as unprecedented population growth, increasing inequity and the growing complexity of classrooms.
Dr Dennis Shirley and Dr J-C Couture, contributed to Edmonton Journal, May 16, 2014
Teaching certificates! Get your red hot teaching certificates!
Perhaps the most nonsensical of all the recommendations, especially given the [Task Force for Teaching Excellence] report’s intense focus on qualifications and evaluation, is the one that suggests making it easier for “experts” without teaching degrees to be certified as teachers. That’s right, at the same time as the task force is making it harder for people with teaching degrees to become and remain teachers, it wants to begin handing out teaching certificates to the minister’s friends from industry and the private sector.
Ricardo Acuna, contributed to Vue Weekly, May 15, 2014
Focused on sticks and carrots, task force misses the point
When education task forces are formed to address the question of improving the teaching profession it seems that they are required to take a superficiality pill. They then focus almost exclusively on human capital in order to improve (or remove) each and every teacher, one by one. The Alberta Task Force [for Teaching Excellence], with its 25 recommendations, is no exception. It is not that the recommendations have no merit; they just entirely miss the point.
You don’t develop a profession or an organization by focusing on sticks and carrots aimed at individuals. All high-performing entities develop the group to focus collectively and relentlessly on quality work linked to high expectations and standards. If you don’t base policies and strategies on purposeful group impact you inevitably end up with low yield results along with gross distractions.
Michael Fullan, contributed to Globe and Mail, May 13, 2014
Good teachers = students that make more money?
Last week, Alberta’s Task Force for Teaching Excellence submitted its much-discussed report on the measures it thinks the province needs to take to improve teaching excellence. The most striking of these would see teachers evaluated every five years. ‘Bad’ teachers would have their certificates removed; ‘good’ teachers would be given extra pay. …
“The impact of a good teacher can be huge,” they write, before going on to tell us of an American study in which economists discovered that students assigned to good teachers, “(as measured by their impact on students’ test scores),” earned more money as adults. Finally, we know what the authors mean by good or excellent teaching.
The only trouble is that this statement technically classifies the report, and each of its recommendations, as economic policy, not education reform.
Zander Sherman, contributed to Globe and Mail, May 13, 2014
Oh yeah, that little issue of funding
There is a lot of talk about the Task Force for Teaching Excellence and the recommendations to change and improve education in the province.
Inside the tentative report were a lot of recommendations about how teachers and administrators can improve their practice and strive for excellence through evaluation and ongoing learning. …
But nowhere in the depths of the provincially funded report were there recommendations directed at the provincial government to properly fund public education. …
Despite the pretense of improving education, the scope of the Government of Alberta’s task force is much too narrow. Only after examining all aspects of education, including looking critically at the ways it is funded and improving those models, can the province truly say it is striving for excellence in education.
Editorial, Bonnyville Nouvelle, May 13, 2014
Open minds are best for Alberta’s students
The report from the Task Force on (sic) Teaching Excellence has received heavy criticism.
Alberta’s teachers have been faced with challenges, as the government’s coffers are not as flush with cash as they once were, and issues with class sizes and doing more with less have arisen. Legitimate concerns have taken root the last few years, issues the government must address moving forward.
That said, both sides must be willing to approach this process with an open mind, and ultimately do what is best for Alberta’s students.
Editorial, Lethbridge Herald, May 10, 2014
Making Alberta schools the graveyard for intelligence and innovation
You can find that report [Task Force for Teaching Excellence] and other stuff about where education is headed in this province at inspiring.education.alberta.ca …
The underlying problem is that our government has yet to figure out that continuing to follow in the footsteps of organizational guru and management expert Josef Stalin is a bad idea. …
They’re doing to education what they’ve done to the health-care system – turned it into a giant bureaucracy where intelligence and innovation goes to die.
Ian Robinson, Calgary Sun, May 9, 2014
