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By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

ata says task force a good thing

Task force will assess Alberta class sizes and complexity

Oct 29, 2025 | 10:38 PM

On the day some 51,000 teachers were forced back to work by the Alberta government through use of the Notwithstanding Clause, the province’s lawmakers announced the formation of a Class Size and Complexity Task Force.

The task force will immediately begin work on identifying solutions to the challenges facing Alberta classrooms, according to a release from the province.

It’s noted in the release that an ‘unprecedented’ 80,000 new students have entered Alberta over the last three years, causing complexity and class size issues for schools everywhere.

Complexity in classrooms has been one of the main sticking points for teachers who just put on a three-week-long strike.

“We are ready to work with school boards and teachers to address classroom complexity and class sizes. We have heard them loud and clear and we are taking bold action to address these issues,” said Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.

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The Alberta Teachers’ Association, the union representing teachers, issued a statement Wednesday seemingly applauding the announcement.

“The government has listened to the voices of teachers and Albertans over the past three weeks and has finally decided to reinstate the collection of class size data,” the statement reads.

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“This vital information is needed to understand the classroom complexities experienced by teachers and students every day; the collection of this data should never have stopped. We look forward to the changes that will occur in Alberta’s classrooms based on this new data.”

The ATA adds it is prepared to work with the government as part of the task force, saying it must meaningfully include teachers’ professional expertise and live experiences.

“Without the voice of teachers, any proposed solutions will fail to reflect the realities of Alberta’s classrooms,” the union says.

To inform decisions on addressing classroom complexity, data will be collected on total numbers of:

• all staff, per school, including roles
• substitute teachers
• district staff, listed by job title
• students, per classroom, per school
• severe, mild/moderate, and gifted/talented students, per classroom, per school
• English as an additional language (EAL) students, per classroom, per school
• refugee students, per classroom, per school
• First Nations, Métis and Inuit students, per classroom, per school
• Individualized Program Plans, per classroom, per school
• students waitlisted for assessment, per classroom, per school
• incidents of aggression and violence

Among those who issued statements Wednesday denouncing the Alberta’s government’s use of the Notwithstanding Clause were the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 417 (Red Deer), and Unifor.