Page Content
In my opening address at the ATA’s Annual Representative Assembly (ARA), I reviewed the Association’s central objectives. Two of our core objectives are to advance and promote the cause of public education in Alberta, and improve the teaching profession. Another part of our job is to hold the government and its ministers accountable, especially when their decisions have a direct impact on our profession and public education. We do this regardless of who is in government.
The 450 delegates who attend ARA are classroom teachers who come from every corner of the province. They are appointed through democratic processes at the local level. It is in this forum that we establish the ATA’s values and beliefs. During this past ARA, representatives declared loud and clear that they don’t have confidence in the education minister’s leadership or the government’s decisions that could damage public education and our students’ future.
It’s easy to see why teachers are frustrated. It starts with the rollback on 2SLGBTQ+ rights for students and staff in the Education Act, then budget cuts, pensions hijacks, choice in education erosions and Bill 32 labour setbacks. Adding to the frustration were the bungled handling of the pandemic that resulted in thousands of teachers and students getting caught in a cycle of isolation, the failure of the draft K–6 curriculum, and the inexplicable delay in making school staff a priority for vaccination.
Dismissing our concerns for public education is a blatant act of disrespect to the dedication teachers and principals have shown to their students, schools and communities.
Since I was elected president, I have been fighting consistently to protect and advance the cause of teachers. I worry deeply about the moral distress that teachers in this province face and am troubled by the lack of support from the minister.
I value the opinion of teachers and have always fully supported the direction provided by delegates at ARA. They are representatives of their colleagues, and those who try to dismiss them and the decisions made at ARA are simply deluded in their thinking that the delegates don’t represent the concerns of their colleagues. If the minister is interested in repairing the relationship with teachers, the ball is in her court. ❚
