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By Chris Brown

Province announces more curriculum rollouts for fall

Mar 17, 2023 | 11:58 AM

More parts of Alberta’s new education curriculum are ready to be introduced into classrooms this fall.

The province says students in kindergarten to Grade 3 will learn from the new French first language and literature, French immersion language arts and literature, and science curriculums at the start of the next school year.

Local school authorities will also have the option to implement the new curriculums for Grades 4-6.

The new curriculum is also ready for Alberta’s Francophone schools.

Kindergarten to Grade 3 students will learn from the new French first language and literature. Again the option will exist for local school authorities to teach the new curriculum in Grades 4-6.

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“Curriculum renewal is essential to help prepare our students for a rapidly changing labour market, which is placing an ever-increasing premium on adaptability and transferable skills,” says Education Minister Adriana LaGrange in a news release. “To ensure successful implementation, we are making significant investments to provide teachers with the resources they need to support students in transitioning to the new curriculum.”

The province says changes were made following the original draft curriculum to address concerns such as content load, age appropriateness of material and wording clarity.

In the 2022-23 school year, 47 school boards in Alberta piloted the draft curriculum, including 941 teachers and 22,000 students, according to government. Changes were made based on feedback from classroom piloting and engagement activities.

The province says about $47 million is being invested in the upcoming school year in teacher professional learning as well as learning and teaching resources to make sure teachers and students are equipped for the updated K-6 curriculum in classrooms.

To help teachers across the province prepare for the upcoming school year, Alberta’s government is providing a variety of supports and resources online, including:

• the final K-6 French First Language and Literature, French Immersion Language Arts and Literature and Science curriculums
• the Provincial Resource Review Guide, with guidelines for selecting learning and teaching resources aligned with the new curriculums
• bridging resources to assist with transitioning from the current curriculums to the new curriculums
• videos and support documents with an overview and orientation to the new curriculums
• tools that support teacher planning, collaborating and sharing
• information about flexible professional learning opportunities

On the new Francophone curriculum, the province says Francophone cultures and perspectives are woven through all grades to support students in developing a positive relationship with the French language and Francophone identity, as well as a sense of belonging to diverse francophone communities.

For the 2022-23 school year, Alberta Education allocated $3.5 million to procure and develop French curriculum resources, says the province.

Support for Francophone school authorities include

• the final K-6 French first language and literature curriculum
• the Provincial Resource Review Guide, with guidelines for selecting learning and teaching resources aligned with the new curriculums
• bridging resources to assist with transitioning from the current curriculum to the new curriculum
• videos and support documents with an overview and orientation to the new curriculum
• tools that support teacher planning, collaborating and sharing
• information about flexible professional learning opportunities

Sarah Hoffman, Alberta NDP Critic for Education, made the following statement in response to today’s curriculum update:

“This curriculum implementation has been a gong show from the start. If the minister says she has not received any negative feedback from teachers or parents, well then it is obvious she is not listening.

“The scope and sequence of this curriculum is developmentally wrong for a lot of kids. While there are parts of it that we think we may be able to salvage, the government has got it wrong and should not be moving ahead with any new curriculum.

“We can’t trust this government with our children’s education. Why are they hiding the social studies curriculum? I believe they are afraid to tell Albertans what they’ve done with it until after the election.

“Danielle Smith and the UCP have extreme ideologies, the rollout of their curriculum has been botched, teachers have not been supported through the process, and kids are the ones that are paying the price.

“You can trust that an Alberta NDP government led by Rachel Notley will be committed to properly funding classrooms, building schools and developing a modern, inclusive, world-class curriculum that sets Alberta students up for success.”

“This government’s insistence on moving forward with additional curriculum rollouts indicates that the ministry is putting political expediency ahead of the real needs of our students and teachers,” says Jason Schilling, ATA president. “The curriculum implementation currently under way has been rushed and, as a result, is not going well. Rather than addressing those needs, the government wants to further increase the burden on our schools by introducing new curriculum to even more grades and subject areas in an already stressed environment.”

“Everything, everywhere, all at once might be an Oscar winning concept for a movie, but it’s a lousy way to implement new curriculum,” adds Schilling. “In the face of inadequate funding supports and nation-leading class sizes, our teachers need time to help students with their mental health and pandemic-exacerbated learning gaps. The last thing we need is additional unsupported curriculum to implement.”