There’s plenty of chatter on social media about the plan by the United Conservative Party’s powerful and secretive Take Back Alberta faction to stealthily take over the province’s school boards in the next round of board elections and set the stage for indoctrinating children with social conservative ideology. Alberta Education
Continue readingTag: education policy
Alberta Politics: UCP leadership candidates’ cagey answers at forum sponsored by teachers’ union include promises to delay new curriculum
Hey! Never mind defunding the police. What about defunding public education? Complaining about a call by Public Interest Alberta to phase out funding for independent schools, Danielle Smith once asked: “How about we go the other way? Candidate Daniel Smith not so long ago during the time she worked as
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Spinning delay as a favour to teachers and a response to COVID, Kenney indicates he’ll press on with controversial curriculum
The way Jason Kenney told the story, Alberta parents and teachers would like his United Conservative Party government to “go a bit slower” rolling out the new primary school curriculum it introduced in late March to widespread opposition. To those who have been following the controversy created by the curriculum
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Teachers overwhelmingly reject Alberta’s draft K-6 curriculum, but that’s unlikely to change Jason Kenney’s mind
It won’t come as a shock to anyone in Alberta that the Kenney Government’s draft Kindergarten-to-Grade-6 curriculum is a dangerous and ideologically motivated dud, or that most professional teachers despise it. Still, kudos to the Alberta Teachers Association for actually going to the trouble of commissioning an exhaustive professional review
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Teachers give Education Minister Adriana LaGrange a 99% non-confidence vote – but it’s Jason Kenney who’s driving the school bus
Ninety-nine per cent of the delegates to the Alberta Teachers Association’s virtual annual representative assembly voted Sunday to affirm a motion of non-confidence in Education Minister Adriana LaGrange. There’s no question that as education minister Ms. LaGrange has possessed a sort of reverse Midas touch – virtually every policy the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The punchline to the bad joke that’s Alberta’s new primary school social studies curriculum: Mart Kenney
Alberta’s new social studies curriculum is pretty obviously a bad joke, but at least it’s got an entertaining punch line. To wit: Mart Kenney. The controversial Mart Kenney song’s record label (Photo: Screenshot of Youtube video). Curriculum experts and accredited teachers were shocked by the thoroughly politicized draft curriculum document
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Few Albertans are likely to be pleased by the UCP’s ‘jaw-droppingly misguided’ K-6 social studies curriculum
Wherever one may fall on the question of traditional arithmetic versus the kinds of new math that frustrate many parents or the value of phonetics over other ways to learn to read, there’s not much chance many Albertans will be pleased with the changes to the kindergarten to Grade 6
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Handpicked UCP advisors call for mention of residential schools to be erased from primary grades’ social studies curriculum
A recommendation by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s handpicked curriculum advisors to strip all mention of residential schools from the province’s Kindergarten-to-Grade 4 curriculum “will perpetuate systemic racism through whitewashing,” says Melissa Purcell, the Alberta Teachers Association’s staff officer for Indigenous education. “The Indian Residential School system was created to erase
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Education Minister’s K-12 curriculum news conference by turns bizarre, deceptive, incoherent, and a comedy classic
No one who watched Education Minister Adriana LaGrange’s news conference on the United Conservative Party’s plans for Alberta’s K-12 curriculum yesterday could come away with the impression our province’s education system is in capable hands. Putting aside the government’s intention to send students back to schools ill prepared for COVID-19
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Education minister changes tune on masks when schools reopen, but credits ‘emerging evidence,’ not public pressure
According to Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, it turns out “emerging evidence has made it clear that masks can play an important role limiting the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.” Who knew? Those were pretty much the first words out of Ms. LaGrange’s mouth as yesterday morning’s news conference on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Auguries aren’t auspicious for September amid UCP’s rush to reopen Alberta schools
Alberta has been relatively lucky up to now with the impact of the global coronavirus epidemic on its population. Premier Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party Government are ready to bet your life that good luck will continue. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Desperate to relaunch
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Post-secondary review: Alberta prepares to train the workforce of yesterday, starting tomorrow!
Brace yourself for the First 10-Year Plan for the rapid modernization of post-secondary education! As a general rule, promises by highly ideological governments to enact ambitious transformational change in institutions they have targeted as hotbeds of opposition to their dogma and policies should be viewed with a certain amount of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: April Fool aftermath: UCP says it’s broke, AUPE job protections back on, spill reporting suspended, Greens choose leader, and more
Whether or not Bob Buckle meant it to be an early April Fool’s joke when he posted his deep thoughts on public education on social media, opining that “perhaps it’s time to reduce our physical plant and footprint with large structures and move to virtual online learning,” he’d be smart
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Between Our Sovereign Lady the Queen and the Accused at Bar: Lieutenant Governor Dave reads the Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, honourable members of the Legislative Assembly, fellow Albertans … [Turns page.] I speak to you as Alberta’s vice-regal — which has nothing to do with vice, by the way, not that kind, anyway — representative of Our Sovereign Lady the Queen, whom many of you last heard from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The students are revolting – and so is Trustee Michael Janz as far as Alberta’s education minister is concerned
The students are revolting – and as far as Alberta’s education minister is concerned, at least one of the school trustees is too. This Friday, students from all over the Edmonton area will abandon their classes to participate in the global strike for climate action. Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta schools are public no more … What gives?
Alberta schools are public no more. Or something. A ministerial order signed by Education Minister Adriana LaGrange on Aug. 15 eliminated the word “public” from the legal title of all public school divisions and boards in Alberta. What’s going on? That’s not immediately clear, but given Premier Jason Kenney’s promises
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP slaps Alberta Teachers Association … probably not for the last time
Almost completely missed in media coverage of Friday’s purge of NDP appointees to agencies, boards and commissions by Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government was the revelation that the same day the government abruptly cancelled a three-year-old memorandum of agreement with the Alberta Teachers Association to co-operate on curriculum development. While
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Oh, dear, what can the matter be? They promised to bring us a pretty ‘Blue-Ribbon,’ but all they deliver is cant!
Once upon a time, your blogger worked for a famous newspaper publisher who announced one day that since we journos hadn’t had a raise for a couple of years we could expect a small one in six months. There was a caveat, though. We would only get the raise if
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Religious schools defy David Eggen; John Carpay hangs in; and Jason Kenney isn’t the Decider after all!
NDP Education Minister David Eggen’s warning yesterday he could defund 28 religious private schools if they won’t obey the law and implement diversity policies and UCP Leader Jason Kenney’s refusal to expel a high-profile social conservative party member who compared pride flags with Nazi swastikas seem like separate stories. They
Continue readingAlberta Politics: University top brass salaries capped; David Suzuki to get honourary degree from U of A! Stand by for fireworks!
PHOTOS: High-profile B.C. environmentalist, scientist, author and broadcaster David Suzuki. Below: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt, University of Alberta President David Turpin (Photo: The Gauntlet), and United Conservative Party Opposition Leader Jason Kenney. The Alberta government has put a much-needed cap on the salaries of top university administrators, providing
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