ATA head says classroom report a good first step

By Lethbridge Herald on November 25, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

Alberta Education’s Aggression and Complexity in Schools Action Team report doesn’t bring up anything new, says the president of the Alberta Teachers Association.

But the union does agree with some of the reports recommendations, including hiring more teachers to lower student-teacher ratios, hiring more educational assistants, and allowing greater flexibility in scheduling mandated literacy and numeracy assessments for Grades 1 to 3.

ATA president Jason Schilling said the needs are not new, he said teachers and school leaders have been calling for them for years. 

“You’ve heard us said that aggression and complexity issues in schools are at a braking point. Teachers, school leaders and educational assistants are being hit, bit, kicked and spat at. That classrooms are overcrowded and supports stretched beyond reason.” 

He said they have been raising the alarm in every way possible, and every time they have said the same thing, that conditions are unsafe, supports and funding are inadequate, and students are paying the price. 

“Today, we have a government report that confirms what the association has been saying for years,” said Schilling. 

He said the engagement findings that are in pages eight through 14 of the report, which is over 70 pages long, is where people will find the reality of what is happening in classrooms across the province. 

“This section is a damming representation of the systemic underfunding that has led us to this crisis in education that the government continuously fails to take responsibility for.”

He said they support the recommendations because they have raised the alarm multiple times before. 

“But make no mistake, Alberta does not need another report that gathers dust on a shelf in the minister’s office,” said Schilling. “Alberta needs implementation, it needs transformation, Albertans demand action.” 

Schilling expects the government takes the recommendations and put them into practice, but not someday, not when it’sconvenient, and not as optional guidelines. He added that Alberta’s students and teachers need these solutions to be converted into policy, to ensure safer, healthier, and more supportive learning environments.

“Solving the complex issues in classrooms will not be easy but listening to our teachers is the right place to start.”

Leanne Watson, Leanne Watson, ATA executive staff officer and member of the government’s multidisciplinary action team, said that when the action team began to work, they shifted the conversation from aggression to the cause of it. 

“The message was loud and clear, what we are seeing in classrooms reflect unmet needs. Across the province, the complexity and size of the classrooms, means that many students simply cannot access the level of support they require,” said Watson. 

She said that when those needs go unmet, they show in the classroom as behavior, distress, and escalation. 

“These are not signs of failing children or inept teachers, it’s quite the opposite, these are signs that this system is not keeping pace with the realities inside Alberta schools,” said Watson. 

She added that rural communities face limited access to services and urban areas experience concentrated needs. 

“As a result, our students may go undiagnosed or wait extended periods of time for necessary interventions,” said Watson. 

She said that to understand these realities more deeply, they spent the summer listening to professionals who came forward as panelists, like school counselors, occupational and physical therapists, speech language pathologists, classroom teachers, educational assistants, and administrators.  

“They shared personal stories of classrooms in crisis mode, of children struggling to regulate, of staff stretched far beyond capacity and the families trying to navigate a complex web of services.”

The Aggression and Complexity in Schools Action Team report can be found at https://open.alberta.ca/publications/aggression-and-complexity-in-schools-action-team-final-report