Draft Kindergarten-Grade 6 Curriculum under Discussion and Analysis

Draft Kindergarten-Grade 6 Curriculum under Discussion and Analysis

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

It has been just over three weeks since Alberta’s Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced the new Kindergarten- Grade 6 Draft Curriculum to parents and educators throughout the province.

LaGrange stated on March 29, “The new curriculum delivers on our commitment to Albertans to refocus learning on essential knowledge and skills in order to give our children the best possible chance at success. Parents and teachers have waited a long time for this, and I’m pleased to say that we’ve delivered. Another promise made, promise kept.”

The proposed curriculum has been met with criticism and several school boards have already decided not to pilot the draft curriculum. On April 10, St. Paul Education announced it would not participate in the K-6 pilot, “to ensure continuity of learning amid the continued impacts of the pandemic.”

The Battle River School Division, (BRSD) followed suit a couple of days later. The statement read in part, “The school division will continue its enhanced focus on building student literacy and numeracy skills next year. In addition, BRSD will continue to have a strong focus on meeting students’ diverse learning and wellness needs.”

EICS Board Chair Ted Paszek

Elk Island Public Schools will not be participating in the pilot either. In an April 15 press release EIPS Chair Trina Boymook stated, “There are a number of aspects of the new curriculum trustees and senior administration feel must be addressed before it becomes mandatory for all Alberta schools.

Currently, the Board and Division are reviewing the draft K-6 curriculum and collecting expert-level input from groups of teachers to provide to the province. We’re confident the feedback Alberta Education receives from school divisions throughout the province will significantly assist the department in revisiting the content, scope, sequence, and learning progression before the new curriculum officially launches.”

Elk Island Catholic School Board Chair Ted Paszek said, “Usually, curriculum roll outs or curriculum changes are something that our administrative. It’s our superintendent and our curriculum people and then our teachers who implement it. It’s relatively unusual for curriculum to be a political issue as it has this time. I’m not quite sure why it has developed the way it has, but it has.

This is unusual in the sense that all seven curriculums all the changes come all at the same time. Going back, and I’ve been in education a long time, usually a curricular development they take one subject at a time and rotate development over time, so this is unusual that we have all seven.”

Paszek said they haven’t decided whether to pilot the curriculum. “We count on advice from our experts and our parents to make that decision.

We are going to do our due diligence though as a jurisdiction. We don’t take any of this lightly. We are going to avoid politicize it. It’s too important. For us, it’s not political, it’s about kids.”

As a former educator, Paszek said the level of engagement from parents has been remarkable. Even though parents can provide feedback directly to Alberta Education they will also have the opportunity to provide feedback through the school division’s own survey. That data will be incorporated along with data collected from teachers and curriculum experts within EICS and then submitted to Alberta Education.

There are 61 school boards throughout the province. School boards and parents will have up to spring of 2022 to submit their feedback.