The Alberta Task Force for Teaching Excellence released a report of 25 recommendations last week as part of the provincial government's push to change and inspire education in the province.
The report, which can be viewed on Alberta Education's website, has four key themes, which include: defining expectations around teaching excellence; enabling teachers to achieve excellence; the assurance of teaching excellence; and the role of leaders in enabling teaching excellence.
The task force consisted of 16 educators who were handpicked by Jeff Johnson, Alberta's Minister of Education, in September. The group spent two months traveling and hosting regional consultations with parents, students and teachers in 14 different communities across the province. The information gathered during this cross-province tour was then used to create their report.
“Our Task Force for Teaching Excellence kept one goal in mind – for every child, in every class, there is an excellent teacher. Each recommendation aims to build on Alberta's world-class education system and ensure every student has the best chance at success,” said Glenn Feltham, Board Chair of the task force and President and CEO of NAIT.
The recommendations have been organized under four key themes. The first theme looks at the standards of practice in education. The Task Force recommends that the existing Teaching Quality Standard be revised and formally adopted for school and district leaders. They would also like to ensure these new standards receive regular reviews and updates.
Under the theme of enabling teaching excellence, the task force examined three key areas: how to attract, prepare and induct new teachers; how to develop and retain experienced teachers; and how to support teachers. Ten recommendations fall under this theme, with some of them causing a swift reaction among educators.
The task force believes there should be “additional pathways to becoming a teacher, particularly for those in the trades, fine arts, and other professions,” states the report. They would like to encourage teacher preparation programs “to look beyond grades in discerning those who are most suitable for careers in teaching,” and allow letters to authorize those without official certification to provide instruction in the classroom. The group would also like to see a mandatory one-year paid internship introduced to give prospective teachers a glimpse of what the profession is like and have that followed up with a province wide mentorship program designed to help teachers in the early years of the career. Other recommendations under this theme focus on on-going development, teacher preparation, teacher support and recognizing excellence.
“I support the idea of providing increased teacher supports through professional development, internships and mentoring new teachers,” said Greg Clark, leader of the Alberta Party in a statement regarding the report. “Any plan that uses collaborative approaches to develop and retain high quality teachers deserves our support. Engaged professional teachers create better learning opportunities for our kids.”
Another theme also drew widespread criticism. The task force recommended that the Minister of Education introduce a new system of maintenance of certification for teachers. This system would see teachers evaluated every five-years to determine whether their certification to teach should be maintained.
“Forced recertification will strain the relationship between the province and teachers,” said Clark, disagreeing with the recommendation. “More importantly, there's no evidence to show that this is an effective method of improving education for our kids.”
Mark Ramsankar, President of the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA), also criticized the five-year recertification plan, saying that it is one of the many recommendations in the report that the ATA finds “offensive to teachers” and feels will “undermine the culture of education in Alberta.”
The task force also recommended that the same five-year evaluation strategy be used on administrators, feeling that school leaders should be evaluated to maintain their designation, just like teachers.
Laurie Thompson, a principal at Kikino School, who was part of the task force, is in full support of the evaluation process for teachers.
“I think that along the way evaluation has taken on a negative connotation and I think there is significant opportunity there for a positive connotation to be applied to it. Once teachers get permanent contracts in jurisdictions and are no longer evaluated; where is their avenue for excellence if nobody ever comes to give the recommendations for improvement, or to celebrate what they are doing well? Evaluation doesn't always have to be about improvement, there is a lot of room in there for celebration to support teacher leadership,” said Thompson.
“I fully support the idea of teachers getting recertified every five years. If we want to be considered a profession, we have to look at ourselves as professionals. Every other professional organization requires recertification; doctors, nurses, social workers all require recertification.”
The final section of recommendations deals with the role of leaders in enabling teachers, as the task force feels school leaders, particularly principals, have the greatest impact on teaching excellence. The task force recommends “the development of a province-wide framework for the identification and selection of school leaders.” The group feels that choosing the right principal for a school is key for that school to have success. Once the right leader is chosen, the task force would like to see frameworks for growth, supervision and evaluation of school and district leaders aligned with practice standards to ensure continued success.
The report has received criticism since being released on May 5, with many upset over the “bold recommendations”.
“From the beginning, Johnson's task force has lacked transparency and legitimacy,” said Ramsankar, calling the report an attack on the teaching profession. “The politically driven recommendations have the potential to seriously undermine the culture of education in Alberta, as a global leader in education. This (report) seriously undermines teachers' trust in and relationship with this Progressive Conservative government.”
Thompson is disappointed with those organizations, including the ATA, who have come out and criticized the report.
“Who would disagree with something that wants to put the best possible education in front of kids? Personally, I am disappointed in our Alberta Teachers Association leadership. They should be fully behind this. We want the same thing. We want excellent people for our kids,” said Thompson.
“I think for the most part the few parties that are criticizing the report have gone to the media and are getting the attention. What speaks louder is those who are not criticizing. I think the voice of the Albertan is in support of putting the best in front of their kids. I think business has a vested interest; grandparents and parents have a vested interest. The ATA is only one voice and they are just the loudest right now.”
Albertans will have the ability to go online and provide feedback on the report until June 5. In the meantime, key education stakeholder organizations, will review the report and provide their own feedback to the minister. After consultations are complete, Johnson will decide whether or not to accept the task force's recommendations.