Curriculum debate ‘partisan and ideologically driven’ SACPA told

By Ry Clarke - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on December 9, 2022.

Herald Photo by Ry Clarke Amy von Heyking speaks to the audience about the current Alberta K-12 curriculum and the history of implementing new education to young learners, during Thursday's SACPA session.

Settling on a school curriculum that satisfies the majority of Albertans has never been easy.

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs hosted its weekly seminar Thursday with Amy von Heyking, associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the U of L, to discuss the curriculum in Alberta for K-12 students.

Discussing the history of Alberta Education’s curriculums and the current version that went out this September, Heyking spoke to audiences on how it is created, and what has caused so much controversy with today’s current document.

“(Alberta) has a long history of curriculum debates, public concern about what is going on in schools, every generation has a specific concern. But there are some unique elements to this latest curriculum development. In the sense that it’s become very partisan and ideologically driven, which doesn’t serve students well,” said Heyking. “We typically haven’t changed curriculum at the will of the government. It has been driven by subject revisions, when it is clear that it is out of date, or things need to be updated.”

With a history of curriculum in Alberta from the ’80s to current times, Heyking notes the importance of having experts handling the content.

“Curriculum reform or curriculum development committees consisted of people with different kinds of expertise, subject expertise. Someone who was an expert in the subject, then people who have expertise in student learning in the subject, then of course, those with expertise in learning theory, experts in assessment, and experts in teaching in classroom contexts,” said Heyking. “That is an array of contexts which need to be considered when we are writing programs for our students.”

Alberta’s current curriculum has had push back over time, with 58 out of 61 school boards refusing to pilot the 2021 draft when it was released.

“The feedback from education researchers and educators was fulsome and overwhelmingly negative. A variety of stakeholder groups, including parents, Indigenous, francophone organizations expressed serious concerns,” said Heyking. “Despite the small number of classrooms piloting parts of the draft, the Minister of Education went ahead with full implementation this past fall for K-3 English Language Arts and Literature, Mathematics, and K-6 physical education and wellness.”

Noting the complexity of the implementation, Heyking pointed out the current curriculum does have its benefits.

“There are elements of the program that have received positive feedback. One is clear articulation of skills related to early literacy, attention to teaching phonics and phonemic awareness,” said Heyking. “But it is also interesting that was the one part of the program written by an Alberta researcher. All of his research has been done in Alberta schools. He was the consultant responsible for that.”

Helping spread awareness on Alberta’s education for students, Heyking stresses the importance of having curriculum written by the educators with expertise, and leaving the political agendas for after school.

“We know that some elements of our program are outdated or problematic, but it is a renovation not a revolution,” said Heyking. “In order to get back on track, we also need to get back to the collaborative process that curriculum development has been.”