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Highlights of the 2008/09 Association Program

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Introduction

The purpose of this document is to identify Association activities and accomplishments in the last school year that are particularly significant. Details of the Association’s routine activities with respect to making representation to outside groups and undertaking field service are published in the ATA’s annual report, which is presented to the Annual Representative Assembly each spring and distributed to schools shortly thereafter.

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Representation

  1. Lobbied the Government of Alberta to remove from Bill 44 a provision that would require teachers to notify parents in advance when the topics of religion, human sexuality or sexual orientation are to be discussed in the classroom. The Association expressed concern that the bill could have the unintended effect of stifling classroom discussion on sensitive issues.
  2. Lobbied MLAs to support Motion 503, which encourages the Department of Education to eliminate provincial achievement tests at the Grade 3 level. The motion was agreed to on 2009 03 16.
  3. Participated in “Inspiring Education: A Dialogue with Albertans,” an Alberta Education initiative to elicit from members of the public their views on the future of education in Alberta.
  4. Participated on an advisory committee that Alberta Education struck to develop a framework for school leadership in Alberta that not only includes the Principal Quality Practice Standard but also sets out such requirements for principalship as preparation, ongoing professional development, and growth, supervision and evaluation.
  5. Participated in “Setting the Direction for Special Education in Alberta,” an Alberta Education initiative to develop a new framework for special education in Alberta, by serving on the Stakeholder Working Group and by organizing two curriculum circles to gather advice from teachers on how the delivery of services to students with special needs can be improved.
  6. Participated in the development of Alberta Education’s Workforce Planning Branch Framework for Action Draft Work Plan.
  7. Developed, in collaboration with education stakeholders, the guiding principles for beginning teacher induction practices.
  8. Participated in an advisory committee that Alberta Education established to develop and implement a comprehensive distributed learning strategy to meet the diverse learning needs of students in Alberta classrooms.

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External Recognition and Awards

  1. Won a 2009 APEX Award for Publication Excellence for A Guide to Alberta’s 27th Legislature in the category One-of-a-Kind—Public Service Publications.
  2. Received 18 Golden Leaf Awards from the Canadian Educational Press Association: eight for the ATA News, four for the ATA Magazine, five for other documents and brochures, and one for the Real Learning First website.

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Research and Studies

  1. Published Leadership for Learning: The Experience of School Administrators, a summary of a study that the Association sponsored to document the daily challenges experienced by school administrators in Alberta.
  2. Completed a study of the unique issues facing teachers in outreach schools and adopted policy to address those issues.
  3. Completed, in collaboration with Calgary Separate School Local No 55, a major review of the professional development opportunities available in the district. The results of the review were published in a document entitled Creating Our Future: Calgary Separate Local No 55 Professional Development Survey Highlights.
  4. Published the results of a study examining the impact on five schools in Alberta and five in Manitoba of becoming UNESCO ASPnet schools.
  5. Began tracking a cohort of beginning teachers to (a) determine the factors that cause some of them to leave the teaching profession and (b) identify induction practices that might help new teachers become committed, long-term professional educators.
  6. Completed a study of the issues facing teachers who work in a distributed (or distance) learning environment.
  7. Published Success for All, a summary of a study that the Association undertook to assess the impact of Individual Program Plans/Individual Education Plans (IPPs/IEPs) on the workload of teachers and to determine the efficacy of IPPs/IEPs in meeting the learning needs of students.

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Field Service and Member Education

  1. Launched Real Learning First, an initiative designed to communicate the message that teachers are ultimately responsible for evaluating and reporting student progress. The initiative included urging the government to review its current approach to accountability; developing a website (www.reallearningfirst.ca) to stimulate discussion about student evaluation; arranging for high-profile speakers to deliver keynote addresses at teachers’ conventions on the dangers of high-stakes testing and the need for a more meaningful approach to accountability; and developing a series of three new workshops on accountability: Teaching and Learning for the Future, Reaching the 21st Century Learner and Measuring What Matters.
  2. Developed administrative guidelines to operationalize practice review, a function for which the Association became formally responsible on 2009 09 01.
  3. Oriented superintendents to the new practice review process by developing a handbook on the topic and organizing two information sessions.
  4. Organized four days of orientation for members of the committees involved in carrying out practice review.
  5. Undertook a program to educate members about the new practice review process, a program that included offering sessions on the topic at all teachers’ conventions.
  6. Collaborated with the Alberta division of the Canadian Mental Health Association in developing Healthy Minds, Bright Futures, a program to raise awareness about mental health issues affecting children and youth.
  7. Undertook a comprehensive audit of Association communications to determine the extent to which the organization’s communication strategies are meeting the needs of members. The audit concluded that the Association should not only continue to produce a print version of the ATA News but also make more use of electronic media in communicating its message to members, other education stakeholders and the public.
  8. Revised Healthy Interactions, a communications/conflict-resolution program that the Association offers in collaboration with individual school jurisdictions.
  9. Developed E-liability, a presentation that explores the legal implications for teachers of such existing and emerging technologies as cellphones, Facebook and YouTube.
  10. Approved the constitution of a new specialist council—the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Council—and organized an inaugural conference, held in Calgary in March 2009.
  11. Reorganized the delivery of professional development field service in a way that complements the Association’s strategic initiatives.
  12. Hosted a symposium on gender equity entitled Learning to Say the F-Word—Feminism for Everyone.
  13. Cosponsored, in conjunction with the Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities and the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, a conference entitled Integrating Global Citizenship into Alberta’s Secondary Curricula, which took place in January 2009.
  14. Collaborated with the Francophone Provincial Professional Development Consortium in bringing Bruce Summers, a technology expert from the Ottawa Carleton Board of Education, to Alberta to deliver to teachers a series of workshops on web-based French-language resources.
  15. Purchased, developed a study guide for, and distributed to schools copies of Teacher’s Challenge: Seven Days in a Struggling School, a documentary that the CBC produced on the school that the Fraser Institute had rated as the “worst” in British Columbia: Roosevelt Elementary School in Prince Rupert.
  16. Developed five new professional development workshops for teachers: Beyond Good Intentions: Partnering with Schools in Developing Countries; Global Issues–Target 2015; The Art of Questioning in the Critically Thoughtful Classroom; Deeper Dialogue Through the World Café; and Effective Assessment Practices for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Students.
  17. Developed a new workshop, Teacher’s Safety Net, to familiarize teachers with the benefits available to them during challenging times.
  18. Developed a strategic planning process and a notebook to help economic policy committees to collect longitudinal data to support their next round of collective bargaining.
  19. Instituted a certificate program to recognize economic policy committee members as they achieve each level of training.
  20. Arranged for the Unité locale francophone to participate in a Teacher Welfare Area Conference to discuss strategic planning.

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Publications

  1. Published Educational Accountability: Professional Voices From the Field, an anthology of essays written by students who completed a graduate course on educational accountability offered by the University of Alberta and held in conjunction with a symposium on that topic that the Association organized in the spring of 2008.
  2. Published, in collaboration with the Alberta Assessment Consortium, a monograph entitled Teacher Leadership in Assessment: Case Studies in K–3 Literacy.
  3. Translated from English into French a number of Association documents including the Teacher Guide series of brochures, several professional development workshops, information about practice review, the Beginning Teachers’ Conference Handbook and the Member’s Diary.
  4. Developed a new brochure on the topic of cultural competency.
  5. Published Shaping Our Future: Current Contexts and Strategic Possibilities for Enhancing Alberta’s Teaching Profession, 2008–12.

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Salaries, Benefits and Teaching Conditions

  1. Reviewed contracts of employment from 30 school jurisdictions and provided each jurisdiction with feedback on clauses detrimental to the interests of its teachers.
  2. Filed a grievance under the collective agreement and lodged a complaint with Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner against the Calgary Board of Education for requiring administrators and potential administrators to submit to an invasive emotional intelligence assessment administered by an agency based in the United States.
  3. Signed addenda for 2008/09 with school boards implementing a wage increase for teachers (based on the Alberta Average Weekly Earnings) of 4.53 per cent.
  4. Agreed to act as bargaining agent for two charter schools: Valhalla Community Charter School and Boyle Street Education Centre.
  5. Negotiated a first collective agreement for the Calgary Islamic Private School.
  6. Defined, through arbitration, a process to provide retroactive Health Spending Accounts to teachers on disability who were initially denied access by their employers.
  7. Received an arbitration decision limiting the amount of medical information that teachers are required to provide to their employers.
  8. Settled outstanding grievances with respect to salary payment for teachers who were on sick leave or paid maternity leave before and during the 2002 teachers’ strike.

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