Alberta to rewrite its heavily criticized draft social studies curriculum, tweak others
Ashley Joannou
© Provided by Edmonton Journal
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange in Edmonton on Friday, May 28, 2021.
HER EDUCATION CREDENTIALS; SHE TEACHES SUNDAY SCHOOL
The Alberta government has killed its controversial K-6 draft curriculum in social studies and will be updating plans for a handful of other subjects that were originally slated to be implemented next fall.
Fine arts, French first language and literature, French immersion language arts and literature and science as well as social studies are being put on hold until new drafts can be released in spring 2022, Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced Monday.
The majority of school boards had refused to pilot the curriculum, which was lambasted by experts for being regressive, not age appropriate, and lacking in diversity.
Updates to math, physical education and English language arts and literature are being implemented as planned this September with some small changes.
“Until now, we have planned to implement all subjects next fall, September of 2022, but we have heard loud and clear from teachers that this was simply not possible due to the workload and resource constraints,” LaGrange said.
“Instead, we will phase in curriculum implementation by staggering subjects starting this fall with three key subjects … Focusing on these subjects will benefit students by targeting foundational reading, writing and numeracy skills that may have been affected due to the learning disruptions caused by the pandemic.”
It’s unclear when the rewritten drafts could see the inside of classrooms. A new implementation advisory group is coming in early 2022 to both make recommendations on how to implement the subjects coming to classrooms in September and provide advice on future implementation in other subject areas.
The government’s plans to revamp the K-6 curriculum across the province received heavy criticism since details were released earlier this year.
Education experts denounced some of the content calling it regressive, faulty, negligent, and plagiarized . The Edmonton Public School Board called for a rewrite and the Métis Nation of Alberta and the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations rejected it .
In the end only about 360 teachers agreed to pilot parts of the curriculum with about 7,800 students across the province.
Critics said Monday that they were pleased things weren’t going ahead as originally scheduled but that more work needs to be done.
Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling called the decision an “important victory” that wouldn’t have been possible without tireless advocacy.
“This is a step in the right direction towards fixing a disastrous draft curriculum. But there’s still significant issues with the proposed content for language arts, math, phys-ed, and wellness program,” he said, pointing to concerns over outdated texts used in English lessons, not enough focus on digital literacy, and not enough variety in teaching methods for math.
In a statement, Edmonton Public School Board chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks also called Monday’s announcement a step in the right direction.
“We remain concerned about rolling out a new math, English language arts, and physical education and wellness curriculum in September that still requires changes and hasn’t had significant field testing for all kindergarten to Grade 6 students,” she said.
NDP education critic Sarah Hoffman said Monday that the government should admit it was wrong and shelve the entire curriculum.
HER EDUCATION CREDENTIALS; SHE TEACHES SUNDAY SCHOOL
The Alberta government has killed its controversial K-6 draft curriculum in social studies and will be updating plans for a handful of other subjects that were originally slated to be implemented next fall.
Fine arts, French first language and literature, French immersion language arts and literature and science as well as social studies are being put on hold until new drafts can be released in spring 2022, Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced Monday.
The majority of school boards had refused to pilot the curriculum, which was lambasted by experts for being regressive, not age appropriate, and lacking in diversity.
Updates to math, physical education and English language arts and literature are being implemented as planned this September with some small changes.
“Until now, we have planned to implement all subjects next fall, September of 2022, but we have heard loud and clear from teachers that this was simply not possible due to the workload and resource constraints,” LaGrange said.
“Instead, we will phase in curriculum implementation by staggering subjects starting this fall with three key subjects … Focusing on these subjects will benefit students by targeting foundational reading, writing and numeracy skills that may have been affected due to the learning disruptions caused by the pandemic.”
It’s unclear when the rewritten drafts could see the inside of classrooms. A new implementation advisory group is coming in early 2022 to both make recommendations on how to implement the subjects coming to classrooms in September and provide advice on future implementation in other subject areas.
The government’s plans to revamp the K-6 curriculum across the province received heavy criticism since details were released earlier this year.
Education experts denounced some of the content calling it regressive, faulty, negligent, and plagiarized . The Edmonton Public School Board called for a rewrite and the Métis Nation of Alberta and the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations rejected it .
In the end only about 360 teachers agreed to pilot parts of the curriculum with about 7,800 students across the province.
Critics said Monday that they were pleased things weren’t going ahead as originally scheduled but that more work needs to be done.
Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling called the decision an “important victory” that wouldn’t have been possible without tireless advocacy.
“This is a step in the right direction towards fixing a disastrous draft curriculum. But there’s still significant issues with the proposed content for language arts, math, phys-ed, and wellness program,” he said, pointing to concerns over outdated texts used in English lessons, not enough focus on digital literacy, and not enough variety in teaching methods for math.
In a statement, Edmonton Public School Board chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks also called Monday’s announcement a step in the right direction.
“We remain concerned about rolling out a new math, English language arts, and physical education and wellness curriculum in September that still requires changes and hasn’t had significant field testing for all kindergarten to Grade 6 students,” she said.
NDP education critic Sarah Hoffman said Monday that the government should admit it was wrong and shelve the entire curriculum.
Social studies ‘blueprint’ released
The most significant changes are coming to the province’s proposed social studies curriculum.
A “blueprint” laying out the basics the new social studies curriculum will be built off of was released Monday.
After criticism that subjects were not being taught in an age appropriate order, LaGrange said that the new blueprint pushes some content to later grades to make sure students are ready.
“It will help us draft K-6 social studies content through the lens of developmental and age appropriateness. It also addresses concerns that have been raised regarding diversity, inclusivity and bias language,” she said.
For example, according to the blueprint, lessons on ancient civilizations and world religions are being moved from Grade 2 to Grade 5.
Lessons on residential schools are listed in the Grade 4 blueprint despite calls from the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission to have age-appropriate lessons for students as young as kindergarten
LaGrange said the lessons were moved from Grade 5 to Grade 4 and that further revisions are possible.
“That doesn’t negate the fact that there will be content learning on First Nations, Metis and Inuit right from kindergarten onwards. We’re very committed to that,” she said.
Proposed changes coming to other parts of the curriculum include adding dinosaurs to science lessons, and more lessons around climate change. Financial literacy is being shifted to physical education from social studies
Government officials say changes to the timeline mean the new curriculum for Grades 7-12, which was supposed to become mandatory in 2023, has also been pushed back. Officials said work on K-6 needs to be completed first.
– With files from Lauren Boothby
ajoannou@postmedia.com
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