Setting the Stage
Alberta has one of the best education systems in the world
and is the leading jurisdiction in Canada. The key reason for this: outstanding
teachers who partner with others in their communities to deliver quality,
authentic education every day to students, despite the growing complexities of
their classrooms and having a very outdated curriculum. Alberta has created and
sustained a cadre of highly professional and competent teachers who
collaborate, engage in professional learning and focus on meeting the needs of
those in front of them.
It is surprising, therefore, that these teachers and this
education system is under attack. It is under attack from the government that
funds it and from ideologists who seek to impose identity politics into the
classroom.
This is not unusual. This is also happening elsewhere in
Canada and around the world. It is a standard point of the neo-liberal agenda
that education, especially quality education, undermines the nature of identity
politics and the neo-liberal agenda since it equips citizens with the skills of
critical thinking, community engagement and evidence-based evaluation – all of which
are problematic for this agenda.
What is School For?
The key challenge we need to focus on is not the details of
the current government of Alberta agenda – standardized testing, cutting funds,
reducing the professional autonomy of teachers, privatizing education, all of
which are components of their strategy. But rather, we need to begin with
building a coalition of understanding of what education is for.
The government’s view, captured nicely in their recent
stage-management of the curriculum review, is that education is an instrument
of the economy – it is about being “work-ready” and therefore is about the
knowledge and skills students need for the labour force. This needs to be challenged.
Without doubt, the knowledge and skills needed for successful
entry into the labour force (the qualification
component of the education system) is important. The difficulty comes in trying
to determine what the knowledge and skills actually are. A student beginning Grade
1 in September 2020 at the age of 5 will leave school in 2033 or later
(especially if they go onto to college, university or apprenticeship). Who
knows what skills an AI enabled world will require. Employees are already
making clear that the key skills they are seeking are design skills
(creativity, imagination, problem-finding and solving), social skills, critical
thinking and compassion. The second challenge with this thinking is to balance
technical skills (e.g. in science, technology, math, engineering – the so-called
STEM) skills with those of the arts and design.
But education is about more than this. It is about enabling
a young person to develop and sustain “a passion for leading their own life and
leading it well”. This was at the heart of the Delors report for UNESCO in 1998
in which he highlighted the purpose of education in terms of learning to be,
learning to live together, learning to know and learning to do. Our government
seems only interested in our students when they are learning to do.
It is worth noting here that some 1.5 million school students
experience mental health issues for which they are not receiving appropriate
supports and that some 6% of students are receiving professional treatment for
mental health (especially anxiety disorders) issues. Young people are amongst
the most likely to commit suicide in Canada – suicide being the second leading
cause of death between those aged between 10 and 24. The school has a role in
these numbers. Across the world some 46% of students identify their school as a
major source of anxiety and stress – in Canada this number is closer to 65%.
Students need really need to know who they are how to live their best life – it’s
a key purpose of such a central institution in the life of young people and the
community in which they live.
So far we have two purposes of school – qualification and
self-development. But there is a third, something our government is not too
keen on: enabling citizenship so as to support a true democracy and enable
social justice.
A democracy depends on the ability of its citizens to get
past tribal politics and identity politics and to be able to understand and
question ideas, policy, practices and behaviour on the basis of critical thinking,
evidence and an ability to anticipate consequences. For example, a successful
graduate of our school system should be able to explore these kinds of
questions: (a) is a tax give away to already profitable corporations really a
way to stimulate economic growth and create employment? ; (b) given that climate
change is happening, what policies would best help Alberta adjust to the
impacts it will have and mitigate negative consequences of climate change over
time?; (c) what can be done to ensure social justice for indigenous peoples?;
and (d) what steps need to be taken to ensure that women and girls are both
safe and able to secure their rightful place in all areas of Alberta’s civil society?
Some would say that these questions are what students
explore in social studies. But they each require cross-curricula knowledge and,
more significantly, an ability to engage in critical thinking, evaluate complex
data and understand the short, medium and long-term consequences of an action.
In short, they require what the OECD refers to as levels 4 or 5 literacy. Our
challenge is that many in our society, including graduates of our colleges and
universities operate at levels 1 and 2 of the OECD five point literacy scale. We
need to do better, but this is the work: helping our students to become engaged
citizens.
The first challenge, then, is to champion a view of what
education is for – all the rest is relevant, but without this focus we will not
secure any kind of advancement.
The Other Challenges
The government of Alberta takes for granted that we all
agree on the instrumental purpose of education: to serve the capitalist economy.
We don’t. Indeed, few educators and certainly few policy makers have ever held
this view. Even the OECD, which is now captured by large corporations, takes a
broader view of the purpose of schooling in its view of Education 2030 and its learning
compass.
But the government of Alberta appear to have other plans
which will challenge the way in which we think about schools, their purpose and
the work that takes place within them. These include, but are not limited to:
1.
Lower ingthe costs of education to bring it
into line with that in other jurisdictions in Canada. The UCP say that we
spend more per capita than any other Province in Canada. This is not true. In 2015/16
we spent $13,340 per student – Saskatchewan spend much more at $15,314 and
Manitoba also spent more at $14,986. We also had the lowest rate of growth in
per capita spending between 2006-7 and 2015/16 of any jurisdiction (21.6%)
other than BC (20.2%). If we then
account for inflation, our cost growth was by far the lowest in Canada (8.1%)
and was sitting around the average in the country at $13,430 (sitting 5th
in the Provincial “league” table). Indeed, we sit at the around the average of
BC, Ontario, Saskatchewan combined.
2.
Increase class size. This is already
happening and will continue. Class size, in the neo-liberal world, is not a
factor in learning outcomes. We know this will happen, since the government has
already stopped formally collecting the data that will demonstrate that it is.
3.
Increase classroom complexity by removing
supports for students with special needs. Educational Assistants, so vital
to the work of any school, as seen as a cost not as an essential service. Given
a choice between laying-off teachers and an EA, school boards will lay off the EA.
The consequence is that it makes nonsense of the whole idea of inclusion
(included into what?) and makes teaching an exceptionally challenging job. This
alone will increase teacher turnover, lead to more days lost to teacher illness
(mental wellbeing will be a growing challenge).
4.
Remove Principals from the Alberta Teachers’ Association
(ATA) and make them chief executives of their school. This is the official
policy of the UCP as a political party and fits with the governments
understanding of new public management. You cannot be both a manager with a
role of control and demanding performance and a member of the same union of
those whose compliance your require. The notion of professional autonomy and
professional engagement is alien.
5.
Break the Alberta Teachers’ Association into
a union and remove their professional responsibilities to a new body more
directly in the control of Government. The ATA is also ready struggling
financially and is finding it difficult to respond to the abundance of actions
the government are taking. They also feel excluded as an “education partner”.
This government has about as much interested in partnership as it has in space
travel or Giant Panda’s. They see the ATA as a union and encourages them to “get
over themselves” with all this talk of being a profession. They are questioning
the professional role, using a review of disciplinary decisions as wedge to get
at this issue.
6.
Reduce or abolish school boards. This has
happened in a number of Canadian Provinces and, given the focus on red-tape
reduction, choice and austerity it is inevitable that, as the government’s
strategy for growing the economy falters, this will occur. The more command and
control that can be exercised from the Ministry, the better the system will be
is the view – despite the established evidence that professional autonomy is a
driver of high performing systems.
7.
Increasing standardized testing. One of
the first actions of the Government was to require that all students in Grade 3
complete the student learning assessment (SLA) – it became compulsory. Now they
want to introduce “standardized formative assessment” (sic) for grades 1-6 (and
will no doubt extend this so that each grade has some sort of reported standardized
test each year). They also want to revisit the weighting of the Diploma exam. “If
you’re not keeping score, you are just practicing not playing” will be their
mantra. The fact that most of these kinds of tests are actually measuring
something else – social status and poverty – will be ignored.
8.
Use the teaching standards, leadership
standards and superintendent standards as policing tools. These standards were introduced to help focus
the profession on continuous improvement and professional development. But in
other jurisdictions they have, over time, become the basis for teacher and
leader evaluations and performance-based pay. When combined with test data (see
point 7 above).
9.
Introduce the School Choice Act. This
will be the backdoor to the voucher scheme which is now UCP policy. By allowing
funds to follow the child – whether these are home school, public schooled,
private schooled or Catholic schooled – the funds will be the same. This will further
reduce the funds available per capita, as more money will be used on tracking
and more home study will occur as some parents find that the vouchers for their
three or four children represent an attractive proposition. This will also lead
to more private providers.
10. Increase
the number of Charter Schools and Private Providers. So as to meet the growing
demand from within the UCP “family” they will remove the cap on the number of private
and charter schools in Alberta, currently set at 15 (we have 13 at this time).
There will be an incentive to open such schools if the School Choice Act ensures
that the funding for a student is the same no matter where they receive their
education. There is also a suggestion that the constraint with respect to being
a not-for-profit corporation will be removed For profit schools will be on the
agenda.
These ten items have been on the conservative radar for some time, especially during the
tenure of former Minster Jeff Johnson, who is still in the background lurking
among the UCP policy makers.
Some suggest that the really radical thing for the UCP government
to do would be to follow the English system – abolish School Boards, have each
school report directly to the Ministry with each of them being Charter Schools
(or Academies), subject to Ministerial review and inspection. A single collective
agreement, with school variations. However, given what is happening with industrial
action in other jurisdictions it is doubtful that any neo-liberal Canadian
Provincial government would go this far. This would also massively increase Government
spending and thus would be a difficult
sell.
The underlying idea of the UCP government for education, as
it is in health, is to so destabilize the system so as to make the case for
privatization. This is already happening in health care in Alberta and will
soon find its way into education. Budget 2020/21 and the School Choice Act will
send all of the signals needed. Evidence of poor performance – a nonsense given
our standing in the world – will be used to say that more needs to be done and
that competition is needed to bring innovation and performance improvement
despite the evidence that such developments lower performance and increase
costs.
What’s To Be Done?
Teachers, parents and students together with school trustees
need to form a coalition to promote these things:
1.
An understanding of the purpose of school as
being more that work-ready skills. This is essential – if we focus on the ten
actions the government is likely to take without this then we will be engaged
in the “divide and rule” game the government wants us all to play. Rally people
around the work of the profession in A
Great School for All – a comprehensive statement of intent about the future
of education. This was cocreated by teachers, students and some of the leading
educational thinkers in the world.
2.
To champion the profession as a advocate for students
and community in partnership with the coalition – build the base of support for
the purpose of education, for the work that teachers do and for the engagement
of the school and community.
3.
To ready the profession and its allies for
action to protect education – industrial action if need be. The profession is
not ready (many teachers have never known anything other than the kind of regime
they now experience) – the last serious action in Alberta was 2001.
4.
To tell great stories about the success of our
activities – students do remarkable things all of the time and we need to shout
their success and the role that parents, teachers and the community had in that
success.
5.
To not let the government play divide and rule.
The profession and the coalition needs to focus and stay united on why schools
and the profession matters. Trustees are not the enemy here – they have a legal
requirement to balance the books at the end of each fiscal year and are subject
to so much regulation and control by the Ministry and the Minister that their
scope for action is very limited. Yet, in my experience, trustees want to
support their schools, their students, their teachers and their community. Yes,
they are “employers” but their freedom as such as constrained.
6.
To create posts to use on social media not just
to complain and challenge, but to celebrate and champion great work. The more
we can show just how good we are the better. For example, the recent curriculum
review (sic) mentioned that only Quebec was better at Math than Alberta. Yet it
wasn’t. Quebec only submitted completed PISA surveys from private schools – the
Ministry staff were on strike and did not submit any public school surveys. So
we are not comparing like with like. I would suggest Alberta is #1 in Canada in
Math.
7.
To document the experience and impact of
government decisions – collect the evidence. The ATA has been doing this
(successfully) on class size and the impact this has. Keep at it. Especially
focus on complexity, inclusion and learning impacts as well as mental health of
students and teachers.
8.
To engage whole communities in understanding
what is at stake here – the future of Alberta.
These are not easy things – teachers already work long days
and, contrary to what some believe, do not have the summer off – many engage in
professional learning and all have to prepare and do the things needed to make teaching
work when schools are back in session. But these eight things (and others) are
key to championing public education, maintaining our standing as a great education
system and to support the profession.
Conclusion
These are challenging times. At such time there is an
opportunity to show just how capable we are of knowing what is best for our
community, our children and our schools. We need to act together and partner
with parents, students and trustees to champion one of the great education
systems in the world.
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