(ATA file photo)

By Jason Schilling, president, Alberta Teachers' Association

conditions are untenable

Op-ed: It’s time to move beyond promises, says teachers’ association

Dec 4, 2025 | 2:05 PM

It’s not often that a seasoned politician deviates from their carefully crafted talking points and says something that sounds authentic. So, my ears perked up when Premier Danielle Smith responded to a reporter’s question at a November 21 news conference that was called to unveil the government’s new roadmap to address classroom complexity.

The main points the premier articulated to the reporter were:

* To address the ongoing issue of class sizes, the government will be using the recommendations from the 2003 Alberta Commission on Learning (ACOL) as its guide.

* Class sizes of over 40 students should never happen.

* It’s not reasonable to have classes where more than half the students don’t speak English or have some form of mild to moderate learning complexity.

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Notice how Smith referenced the ACOL recommendations from 2003? As it happens, the recommendations in the government’s new aggression and complexity in schools report mirror dozens of recommendations made back then, such as

* smaller class sizes;

* stronger supports for students with complex needs;

* increased access to educational assistants and clinical professionals;

* coordinated wraparound services; and

* protected time for teachers to collaborate, plan and respond to student needs.

Clearly, these ideas are not new. The changes that students and teachers need in 2025 are the same changes that were recommended in 2003. That is not a sign of a system that has lacked ideas. It is a sign of a system that has lacked political follow-through.

The issue is that the ACOL recommendations of 2003 gained attention but not long-term implementation. Successive governments endorsed class size guidelines but didn’t enforce them, encouraged early intervention but didn’t fully fund it, and promoted integrated services while not sustaining them.

Alberta cannot repeat that cycle. The premier, the education minister and the entire provincial government must move beyond making promises during news conferences and drive actions that reach every school and classroom in our province.

Students with developmental delays, language barriers, behavioural needs and mental health challenges require coordinated collaboration that crosses ministries and brings specialists into schools. Schools require teachers and leaders who are supported within their roles. Families require predictable and sustainable funding. These are not aspirational goals. They are the same commitments Alberta recommended more than two decades ago.

This recent report on aggression and complexity will only be transformative if it is implemented and funded fully and transparently. That means:

* Establishing clear timelines

* Funding commitments and staffing targets

* Public reporting

* Enforcing limits on class sizes

* Expanding early learning and intervention

* Supporting English language learners

* Providing teachers built-in time to collaborate with health and social service professionals

Alberta teachers, students and families deserve a system that matches words with action. We cannot afford another report that gathers dust. We cannot ask another generation of students to wait, and we cannot continue losing teachers and school leaders who are leaving the profession because the conditions in their classrooms have become untenable.

The Alberta government knows exactly what it needs to do to address the concerns in our public education system. Now it’s time for action. We don’t need promises. We need progress.

Jason Schilling is president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

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Related: Alberta government allocating $69 million for mental health in the classroom

EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or Pattison Media. Column suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.