OLDS — Teachers in the Red Deer Catholic Regional School (RCDRS) division are being invited to participate in the ongoing input gathering process regarding proposed changes to the province’s K-6 curriculum, says superintendent Kathleen Finnigan.
In her monthly report presented at the recent board meeting, Finnigan said the curriculum review includes opportunities for input from educators, parents and others through a subject area virtual think tank process.
“Teachers have been invited to participate in the process to garner further teacher feedback on the draft curriculum,” said Finnigan. “The think tank members will be asked to focus on a subject area with grade-specific considerations.
“Depending on the interest, think tank groups will be designed to provide a variety of experiences and representation across our division. This work will build upon the initial feedback given in June and allow for teachers to provide more specific and in-depth input.”
Headquartered in Red Deer, RDCRS includes schools in Olds and Innisfail.
Teachers who chose to take part in the process until Nov. 16 will focus on a number of areas, including areas of strength and opportunities in the draft curriculum, potential adjustments to the scope of learning, recommendations on age appropriateness, and perspectives on content load.
“The next step will be to utilize the RDCRS connects platform (on the division’s website) to engage parents and stakeholders in specific feedback on the draft curriculum,” she said. “This will open for parents and stakeholders starting on November 1.”
Parents and other stakeholders are being asked to provide input by answering a number questions, including: What knowledge and skills do you want your child to gain from the Kindergarten to Grade 6 draft curriculum? What causes you concern about the Alberta draft curriculum? Do you have suggestions for changes to the curriculum?
The province is gathering stakeholder input into the draft curriculum until spring 2022.
The curriculum is founded on four key themes that span all grades: literacy, numeracy, citizenship and practical skills such as financial literacy and computer science.
“It will equip students with foundational reading, writing, and math skills, while introducing substantive studies on Albertan, Canadian and world history,” says Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange.
The plan is to have all elementary students in the province learning from the new curriculum in 2022-2023, she said.
Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers' Association, whose membership last spring rejected the draft and voted overwhelmingly to express lost confidence in LaGrange, has called the draft curriculum “fatally flawed” and says it should be substantially re-written or scrapped.
Meanwhile, the majority of Alberta's school boards — including Chinook's Edge School Division and RCDRS — have previously declined to pilot the curriculum, which has also faced criticism from Indigenous groups as well as francophone education representatives.
