An Open Letter to Alberta Teachers

Dear Alberta Teachers,

As you know, the United Conservative Party is attacking public education in Alberta. As of the writing of this letter, the list of changes to education at the hands of the UCP includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Removed the Alberta Teacher’s Association from the Curriculum Review Process
• Brought in a new curriculum review panel with no current teachers on that panel
• Proposed a 2–5% salary decrease to teachers and other public sector workers
• Asked a number of school boards to remove the word “public” from their name.
• The proposed removal of teachers pensions from ATRF control (with teacher input) over to AimCo (government control)
• Replaced the School Act with the Education Act
• Increased Standardized Testing with grade three PATs.
• Allocated $400 million to charter and private schools in the new budget
• The planned introduction of the Schools Choice bill which promises to usher in further privatization of education.

A slide of education reform at the “Freedom Talk Conference” held by Danny Hozak of the Economic Education Association of Alberta in February 2019. The slide was presented by Peter Holle from the Frontier Centre and Alex Newman in Calgary, Alberta.

We knew this was coming. Although there is much to be upset about here, none of this is a surprise. But I’m writing to you today because over the last few weeks I’ve seen more of you getting engaged in the politics of education than ever before. I’ve heard teachers both in the staff room and online exclaim that although they never had to be political before, they are now feeling the need to stand up for their profession and students.

I remember my political awakening within the education system and how that made me feel emboldened to act. I was fifteen years old and had recently been told by a teacher to drop out of school because of my failing grades and adversarial relationship with teachers. That experience changed me forever. I felt like I didn’t belong in schools and that I would never find success in a classroom. That experience set me on a path to becoming a teacher to challenge how we take up our work in the classroom as well as the structure of the entire education system.

So whether you’ve become politically engaged because of the threats to your pension, salary or class sizes or have been engaged politically for years, I want to build upon this work with you. But you should know, that the fight before us is much more than proposed salary decreases, class sizes and the well-being of pensions. Although these are all extremely important issues, the fight for public education will be determined by our ability to advocate for the type of education system that we know can benefit all students and against the march towards privatization that this government has us headed on.

I believe that although these feel like dark days for teachers, students and families across Alberta, that this is our best opportunity to create a movement of teachers who not only defend our current system but advocate for a truly just and equitable education system for all.

And to me, that would include but not limited to the following:

• An updated curriculum written by teachers and subject experts
• Full breakfast and lunch programs at all schools across Alberta
• Decreased use and dependency on standardized testing
• A review of the impact of academic streaming on students
• Increased educational assistants and support staff
• Full and equitable funding to all schools to provide the educational programming all communities deserve.
• School counsellors, social workers and other support staff available to support student needs.
• Intentional and supported professional development for teachers to undergo training in anti-oppressive practices.
• Partnerships with Indigenous leaders and communities to participate in decolonizing education.
• Legislative protections for vulnerable students in the margins of our education system.
• Replacing punitive discipline models with restorative justice.
• An end to public funds for private and charter schools.

I know this list may seem too radical or outside the box within our current reality but we need to provide a vision of education in Alberta that tells the story of how a just and equitable education system can be of value to all students across the province. Asking for policies and engaging each other in practices to root out inequity within our system is our job. This is the political job that we are tasked to do and I hope that the political awakening that we are seeing among our colleagues does not end at the policies that impact our own lives but continues to understand how the defunding and destabilizing of public education will hurt students in the margins the most.

The most vulnerable students across Alberta already face immense challenges in our schools. Many face discrimination in the forms of racism, classism, homophobia/transphobia, and sexism among many other forms of oppression. Both teachers and students face oppressive attitudes and policies within our schools daily. A truly equitable education system will provide the support, leadership and tools to work on confronting, reducing and eliminating how our system privileges some and sets up barriers for others. Often, these barriers are invisible to most, but just as you have been awakened by attacks to your life, these attacks are felt by the politically awakened students and teachers for most if not their entire lives. It’s time we work together to create the schools we all deserve.

Photo by Chris Slupski on Unsplash

We have incredible power as teachers to not only defend our students, schools and colleagues but to also work to ensure a just and equitable society. That is an immense privilege I feel every day in my role as a teacher and I hope we can understand that we are not just passive participants within our society that have no say to what happens to us. There will be more attacks and policy changes that will negatively impact our profession in the days and weeks to come. So my question to you is how are we going to counter the anti-teacher rhetoric and sentiment that the UCP hopes to build throughout the province? How can we establish a vision of Alberta Education that is equitable and just?

We have seen the platform, policy changes and lack of relationship building with teachers from the UCP and need to counter with our own tactics to defend and build an education system that is worthy of the most vulnerable and marginalized students. I’ve been fighting for these students my entire career because I used to be one of them. I know what it’s like to struggle in school and that fire that I felt at my teacher as a fifteen-year-old student is still within me motivating me to fight for my students and profession against the attacks of this government and all those who embrace a harmful ideology that attacks public education.

So I hope you join teachers like me in our advocacy and organizing to mobilize teachers to defend our students, colleagues and communities from harmful UCP education policies and work to imagine an education system that is truly equitable and just for all. Despite all the darkness, this could be our moment to truly build something beautiful for all.

Love and Solidarity,

Dan