Smith says report is a roadmap for classes

By Lethbridge Herald on November 25, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

The Aggression and Complexity in Schools Action Team has concluded its work and submitted the final report to Alberta’s government.

Premier Danielle Smith, alongside Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides, released the report on Friday, saying it identifies key challenge areas and provides seven recommendations to address rising aggression and complexity in classrooms. 

“The report on aggression and complexity in schools is going to guide our next steps in addressing a significant barrier to the education experience that every Alberta student deserves,” said Smith.  

She said they are already working on gathering data that, in addition to this report, will further inform their work on the Class Size and Complexity Cabinet Committee. 

Smith added that the report was comprehensive and thoughtful, and explained that they tasked this group with providing immediate and long-term recommendations to the Minister of Education and Childcare for addressing behavioral, mental health, and learning needs in schools. 

“Over the past few months, the team has consulted with teachers, occupational health and safety officers, speech language pathologist, psychologists and organizations including community-based service groups and special interest and advocacy groups.” 

She said the causes of aggression and classroom complexity are difficult to determine.  

“They can involve academic, behavioural, socioeconomic, linguistic, emotional, and mental health factors,” said Smith. “Our government asked the action team to not only assess the problem, but also to focus on solutions.” 

Smith said she’s encouraged by the work of the team and the contributions of many dedicated Albertans to bring forward a road map of the opportunities for her government to take action with their education partners.  

“Part of this is ensuring that we have the space. We’re building schools and funding education at a rate that is unprecedented in this province.”

The government is making a record high $10 billion investment in schools and education this year, said Smith, and is committed to hiring 3,000 new teachers and at least 1,500 new education assistants in the next three years. 

Over the next few months, Albertans can expect to see decisions by the committee as they move to implement solutions.

Nicolaides said the report marked an important step as government works together with teachers, parents, and education partners to address classroom issues. 

“Our goal here is simple, to use these recommendations to create learning environments where every student can succeed.”

The report includes replacing the standards for special education to align with the developed inclusive education policy framework. And it includes recommendation to require school authorities to align and maintain school level guidance for managing violence, student behavior an ensure staff safety is consistent with provincial requirements. 

“It also includes a recommendation to develop a consistent provincial model for individualized program plans (IPS), that include a clearly defined purpose,” said Nicolaides. 

Another recommendation calls upon government to create a tiered continuum of supports that can be activated on predictors of need rather than formal diagnosis, ensuring students receive timely interventions. 

“It also calls upon us to expand specialized programming, designated special education programs, and schools for complex student needs,” said Nicolaides. “These recommendations are not just ideas; they represent the experiences of teachers and others who work in classrooms and support students.” 

He said the Alberta government will also work closely with school boards, community leaders and academic experts to ensure they are guided by expert advice. The province has been compiling data on class sizes and composition throughout November and will make the results available in January.

“This committee will use this data to make informed decisions and to direct resources to the classrooms that need them the most.

“Our goal is to allocate resources in a way that reflects the needs of Alberta school system by using targeted an informed decision-making process.”

Nicolaides said that over the coming months, the committee will continue to roll out recommendations from this report, including guiding the development of a new inclusive education policy framework to replace the 2004 Standards for Special Education.