Alberta Ed looking into aggression and complexity in the classroom
By Lethbridge Herald on July 1, 2025.
Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald
Alberta Education is launching an action team to address classroom complexity and aggression.
Minister of Education and Childcare, Demetrios Nicolaides, announced Monday that“More students than ever are enrolling in our schools, all with unique needs, unique backgrounds and unique experiences. This growth puts added pressure on our classrooms and on the teachers and staff who support these students every single day.”
He said that over the past year, government has heard directly from teachers, school leaders and education partners that classroom complexity is increasing and that mental health concerns, behavioural needs and learning disruptions are becoming more common, impacting both students and staff.
“We recognize that this is a serious and growing issue and that is why we are taking action today, immediately and in the long term, to ensure that every student and staff member has the supports that they need to thrive,” said Nicolaides.
The new Aggression and Complexity in Schools Action team will work to improve safety and supports for students and staff across Alberta.
“Alberta’s government believes that every student and every staff member deserve to feel safe, respected and supported at school. And we’re taking concrete steps here today to make sure that that happens.”
He said the new action team is part of a broader strategy to reduce disruption in the classroom, strengthen mental health and behavioral supports, and ensure that schools remain inclusive and safe learning spaces.
“Firstly, the Action Team will bring together 20 education system leaders from across our education system. This will include representatives from the school boards in Edmonton and Calgary, representatives from the Alberta Teachers Association, the College of Alberta superintendents, and others to ensure their work is informed by frontline experiences.”
Nicolaides said the team will work closely with teachers, education support workers, school resource officers and representatives from student and family advocacy groups.
“They will also engage with key partners across the education system, including organizations such as Inclusion Alberta, to ensure diverse and holistic perspectives inform and strengthen our efforts,” said Nicolaides.
He said the opinions and experiences of these frontline representatives will be essential in shaping practical, effective and evidence informed decisions.
“A list of the individual team members will be published online once it is finalized. The Action Team will begin meeting immediately this summer and will deliver a report in the fall,” said Nicolaides.
He said the report will include practical recommendations and policy advice to support schools in addressing the increasing complexity of today’s classrooms.
“Some of these recommendations, we hope would be in a position to begin rolling out as early as the 2025-2026 school year. This work will help guide the future direction of education in Alberta, ensuring our system is responsive, forward-looking and better equipped to meet the needs of both our students and our staff,” said Nicolaides.
He’s confident that through the work of this action team, they can build a stronger, safer and more supportive education system that prioritizes the well-being and success of everyone in the classroom.
“In the coming days, we will be reaching out to our partners with more information about the Action Team and its mandate. I encourage all education partners to stay engaged as the team begins its work later this summer,” said Nicolaides.
He added that this is just one of several steps they are taking to support schools, and they look forward to continued collaboration as they build stronger, safer classrooms for every student and teacher in Alberta.
In December 2023, a survey published by the ATA found that more than half of Alberta teachers experienced aggression in the first three months of the school year and teachers along with student unions have been very vocal about their need for educational assistance, specialized learning and mental health in the classroom.
When Nicolaides was asked why they are creating the action group instead of actually taking action and providing teachers and students for the help they have already asked for, he said that it is important to have a comprehensive understanding.
“We have to know exactly how to distribute TAs (Teacher Assistants), where exactly they’re needed, make sure that their operating as effectively as possible, make sure that that’s a solution that works as well,” said Nicolaides.
He said there’s a variety of different options that one could take, and different groups and different individuals have different perspectives as to what should be done.
“We have to look at the resources that we have within the government as well. Funding, budget allocations and determine a path forward that can really work for everybody,” said Nicolaides.
He added that he thinks it is important that they get everybody together, talk about all of those different perspectives, hear different ideas, and ask the team to come up with some practical steps.
“Because we’ve heard them, but now we need to develop the road map. What is that going to look like? Because different groups have different perspectives and different ideas about what to do, so we need to put everybody together, government and our partners, and figure out what the practical next steps are actually going to be.”
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