2005/06 Association Program Highlights
ATA’s actions promote and advance public education
As the professional organization of teachers, the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) promotes and advances public education, safeguards standards of professional practice and serves as the advocate for its members.
Every year, numerous actions are taken to accomplish set goals and objectives. Following are some of the Association’s activities and accomplishments between September 2005 and July 2006. For a complete copy of the 2005/06 Association Program Highlights, go to www.teachers.ab.ca and under About the ATA, click on Organization and Delivery of Services.
Joint actions with education partners
· The Provincial Executive Council hosted the Minister of Education at Barnett House to review selected policies.
· The ATA President, Executive Secretary and Associate Executive Secretary met with the Minister of Education and the Deputy Minister of Education on several occasions to discuss a variety of educational matters, including collective bargaining, the provincial budget, full-day kindergarten, junior kindergarten and the class size initiative.
· Association representatives met with representatives of Alberta Education, the Alberta School Boards Association, the College of Alberta School Superintendents and the Alberta Home and School Councils’ Association to discuss concerns regarding the Grade Level of Achievement initiative. The President and the Minister of Education also met to discuss these concerns.
· Association representatives participated in a K–3 numeracy and literacy consultation process and developed an official response.
· The President met with the Minister of Education at Barnett House to discuss the Grade Level of Achievement initiative, principals’ membership in the Association, the unfunded liability of the Teachers’ Pension Plan and collective bargaining.
· The President and Executive Secretary met with executive directors and presidents of the College of Alberta School Superintendents, the Alberta School Boards Association and the Alberta Home and School Councils’ Association to discuss the education funding shortfall and other common interests.
· The Association, Alberta Education, the College of Alberta School Superintendents and the five Alberta teacher preparation institutions cosponsored the provincial Teacher Induction Practices Symposium to discuss the education funding shortfall and other common interests.
· The Association, with assistance from the University of Lethbridge, organized a conference on the ways in which teachers and administrators in both on- and off-reserve schools can work together in the best interests of First Nations, Métis and Inuit students, regardless of which schools they attend.
· The President met with numerous MLAs to discuss issues of importance to teachers.
Aboriginal educators and Association staff hosted a dedication ceremony to launch the publication Education Is Our Buffalo: A Resource for Alberta Teachers.
· Aboriginal educators and Association staff hosted a dedication ceremony to launch the publication Education Is Our Buffalo: A Resource for Alberta Teachers. The dedication featured a First Nations blessing, a smudge ceremony and Aboriginal cultural performances.
Protests, actions and accomplishments
· The Computer Adaptive Assessment initiative and the involvement of Castle Rock in its development were protested publicly. Association staff spoke to the Minister of Education directly about concerns.
· An invitational symposium titled "Handle with Care—Futures Being Built" was sponsored to discuss accountability in education and obtain public opinion.
· A Political Engagement Seminar was held with the theme "Advocacy in Action." Seminar presentations included a session on the government’s third way initiative in health care.
· Getting to the Heart of Learning—A Parent Guide to Reporting Student Learning was developed and published.
· Association staff organized the Leadership in Learning Conference "Embracing the Future: Leadership for School Renewal," featuring Joseph Murphy, Stephen Kaagan, David Bouchard and 20 sessions presented by Alberta school staff.
· Five new workshops were developed in the Professional Learning Communities program: Developing Teacher Leadership Capacity, Team Dynamics, Focus on Student Learning, Focus on Assessment, and Focus on Instruction.
· An Issues for Administrators monograph, A Guide to the Classroom Walk-Through, was published.
· The Beginning Teachers’ Conference hosted more than 700 teachers new to the profession.
· All working condition provisions in collective agreements were maintained.
· Health spending account provisions were bargained into the majority of collective agreements.
· The Collective Bargaining brochure was revised and distributed.
· An action plan was implemented throughout the province that included 24 presentations to a total of 27 locals using the document Unfunded Liability to raise awareness of issues related to the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund.
· The Committee on Review of Teachers’ Conventions published its final report.
· Critiques and research-based alternatives to the proposed Grade Level of Achievement reporting program were developed.
· The School Representative Pilot Project, designed to enhance the role and effectiveness of the Association, was completed.
· The website update was implemented and 16 websites for subgroups were established.
· Five collaboration sites were built, including a school representative site.
· Software was purchased to support the automatic authentication of users and the deployment of passwords and identification for log-on to members’ only areas.
· Assistance was provided to the five Alberta schools awarded national accreditation in UNESCO’s Association Schools Project Network.
· Numerous awards were received, including an Award for Publication Excellence in the category of education, training and public information; two Bravo Awards from the Canadian Association for Communicators in Education; and eighteen Golden Leaf Awards of Excellence from the Canadian Educational Press Association.
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