The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Letters to the editor

Dear people who work in our schools …

It is very important during the situation we are in locally and globally to express gratitude to those well-deserving individuals who make our lives better.

Thus, we feel it is very important to acknowledge our teachers, principals, school support staff and superintendents, who have emerged as front-line workers throughout our province. Your commitment and dedication to educating students and supporting parents/guardians during this unprecedented and evolving COVID-19 pandemic have been, and continue to be, outstanding! You have courageously opened your schools and daily provide face-to-face and online opportunities to further student learning, given the high degree of risk and uncertainty of teaching and learning under pandemic conditions.

We would also like to thank you for generously and graciously welcoming our preservice teachers into your classrooms! We are extremely appreciative of our partnerships with schools so that our preservice teachers can experience this new teaching “reality” and be mentored into the teaching profession. This is essential as we graduate future teachers, who will positively impact student learning and position our province for success going forward. Indeed, education is our most important and accessible resource!

We have requested that the Government of Alberta, through the Ministry of Education, recognize the teaching profession for your significant and meaningful accomplishments during the challenging situation brought about by the pandemic!

We look forward to continued collaboration and are most appreciative of our strong relationship with the Alberta Teachers’ Association. We are deeply committed to maintaining high quality K–12 education in the province, and again, want to acknowledge the incredible efforts of teachers, school support staff, principals and superintendents during these challenging times.

With deep gratitude,

Dr. Edgar Schmidt
Dean, Faculty of Education, Concordia University of Edmonton

Dr. Henry Algera
Dean, Faculty of Education, The King’s University

Dr. Jennifer Tupper
Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta

Dr. Martine Cavanagh
Associate Dean, Education, University of Alberta, Campus Saint-Jean