(Public Interest Alberta)

By Alessia Proietti

"Ditch the Draft"

Protest to be held Saturday in Red Deer against provincial Draft K-6 Curriculum

Apr 1, 2022 | 5:23 PM

Red Deer is one of five cities in Alberta to participate in a province-wide protest on Saturday to “ditch the draft” against Alberta’s controversial Draft K-6 Curriculum.

Public Interest Alberta, a non-profit organization for education and public interest issues, announced the protest taking place on April 2 at 12 p.m. Residents are set to gather outside Adriana LaGrange’s MLA Office in Red Deer. Other cities include Edmonton, Calgary, Grande Prairie, and Lethbridge. Protestors in rural communities are also expected to meet outside their local MLA’s office wearing red.

“The UCP government has been on a warpath with our vital public education system,” said Bradley Lafortune, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. He referenced issues such as funding for public boards, privatization through charter school expansion, and COVID-19 management in schools.

“However, rather than learn from their mistakes, the UCP upped the ante and continued with the disastrous roll-out of their deeply-flawed draft curriculum which has no support from teachers and administrators,” he said.

The provincial government announced on March 11 the release of their updated curriculum in April to be implemented in a phased approach for the next school year affecting approximately 390,400 students and 37,100 teachers. Beginning in September 2022, the new curriculums in K-3 Mathematics, K-3 English Language Arts and Literature, and K-6 Physical Education and Wellness, will be implemented. September 2023 will roll out grades 4-6 Mathematics and English Language Arts and Literature.

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Wide debate has been sparked amongst teachers, parents and school boards with various criticisms on the proposed curriculum.

In September 2021, the Alberta’s Teachers Association (ATA) said teachers were not adequately consulted with during its creation. They said the curriculum lacked logical sequencing, authentic Indigenous content, inclusion of other histories like that of Francophones and other cultures, failure to address forms of bigotry like racism and sexism, among other critiques.

READ: Teachers’ Association says new K-6 draft curriculum fails to meet province’s own standards

Public Interest Alberta also cites the curriculum as too heavy for students, not age appropriate, and having inactive physical activity courses.

The Province responded that their process included various changes in the curriculum after listening to Albertans through engagement opportunities this January and February and an online survey.

“The government respects Albertans’ democratic right to peacefully protest and have their voices heard. Over the past year, we have been listening to feedback from Albertans, education partners and piloting school authorities on the draft K-6 curriculum. We committed to a transparent and open year-long review process for curriculum and we kept that promise,” said Katherine Stavropoulos, Press Secretary for the Minister of Education.

But groups like RAD Educators’ Network, a grassroots educators’ organization, says the draft should still be ditched.

“This draft curriculum does not meet the standard of care and ethics that is needed in order not to harm vulnerable students. There’s a reason board after board across the province has voted not to pilot this curriculum. This curriculum will fail as many teachers are not comfortable delivering it and they will continue their professional responsibility to educate in a way that respects the wellbeing of all students,” said Julia Dalman, co-founder of RAD Educators’ Network.

The decision to create a new curriculum began in 2019 and the draft was released in March 2021. After public scrutiny, the provincial government created a new Curriculum Implementation Advisory Group in 2022.

“Parents have been clear that they expect our education system to provide their children with a strong foundation of essential knowledge and skills and that is exactly what our government intends to deliver. Students deserve to be learning from the best curriculum possible. The steps we are taking now will ensure our students are learning from an updated curriculum that prepares them for success in the future,” said Stavropoulos.

The province states the advisory group will be making recommendations in May on piloting and implementation.