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Bill 15 is a vindictive piece of legislation designed to punish the teaching profession for standing up to the minister’s bad decisions and gross mishandling of public education, according to ATA president Jason Schilling.
“The minister is misrepresenting cases and revictimizing students and witnesses for her own political advantage. This is a crass, insensitive bid to undermine public confidence in teachers and the ATA. The minister’s plan is to deprofessionalize teachers, and in doing so, she will destabilize one of the best performing public education systems in the world.”
—Jason Schilling, ATA President
If passed, Bill 15 would create a professional regulator, leaving the ATA to act as a labour union. Removing its role in professional regulation fundamentally changes how the ATA operates within the education system and will have repercussions that will be felt in schools across the province, says the ATA’s chief executive.
“The ATA is a professional association and professionalism is the essence of our being. This bill strips out an integral piece of our professional identity and culture. It will change fundamentally the collaborative, collegial culture that has evolved here over decades and has contributed to Alberta’s success in education.”
—Dennis Theobald, ATA Executive Secretary
Schilling says teachers are tired of the continuous attacks from this government, and given the Minister’s failure to implement a transparent and accountable system for regulating teachers herself, have little faith in her ability to regulate the profession in the public interest.
“The ATA has always taken its work in discipline very seriously, and we have managed this process in a way that has always maintained the honour and dignity of this profession by protecting the public interest.
The process that the ATA has established is transparent and accountable—it stands in stark contrast to the secretive and unaccountable process that the Minister has maintained in place for private and charter school teachers and superintendents who have been regulated directly by the government—this hardly inspires confidence in a process that will be run by government and answerable only to the minister.”
—Jason Schilling, ATA President
The Alberta Teachers’ Association, as the professional organization of teachers, promotes and advances public education, safeguards standards of professional practice and serves as the advocate for its 46,000 members.
