(Canadian Press)

By Canadian Press

Thanks, But No Thanks

N.W.T. replaces Alberta curriculum for junior kindergarten to Grade 12 with B.C.’s

Dec 17, 2021 | 9:06 AM

The Northwest Territories says it will no longer teach Alberta’s curriculum in its schools.

The territory says it has signed an agreement with British Columbia to teach its junior kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum instead.

N.W.T.’s education department says in a release that B.C.’s curriculum integrates Indigenous world views and knowledge.

The department says it started looking at curricula in Canada’s western provinces in 2019 to see which one aligned best with the territory.

A recent rewrite of Alberta’s kindergarten to Grade 6 curriculum has been widely criticized by the Alberta Teachers’ Association as being too skewed toward Eurocentric history and for referring to First Nations, Inuit and Métis only in the past tense.

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N.W.T. says the B.C. curriculum will be phased into schools in the territory over the next several years.

“British Columbia’s redesigned curriculum aims to personalize learning, making it more student-centered and flexible,” N.W.T. Education Minister R.J. Simpson said in a release Thursday.

“With an emphasis on Indigenous knowledge and a focus on literacy and numeracy skills, I am confident that this curriculum will benefit all of the NWT’s JK-12 students.”

NDP Education Critic Sarah Hoffman issued the following statement in response:

“This decision by the Northwest Territories should be a wake-up call for the UCP. They’ve now botched Alberta’s draft K-6 curriculum so badly that other jurisdictions are preemptively switching just to protect their students. We tried to warn the UCP that this was a possibility nine months ago, hoping they would draft a better curriculum that we could all be proud of, including educators and parents in the Northwest Territories. They didn’t. They chose to continue to ignore the concerns of Albertans.

“This is an embarrassing blow to Alberta’s reputation. Adriana LaGrange needs to explain: if this curriculum is not good enough for students in the Northwest Territories, why should anyone believe it’s good enough for Alberta’s kids? The truth is: it’s not. It needs to be scrapped. If the UCP doesn’t, and we are fortunate enough to earn the trust of Albertans in the next election, the NDP will.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2021.

(With files from rdnewsNOW)