The Alberta Teachers’ Association

This is a selection of the 253 resolutions adopted at the 2021 Annual Representative Assembly.

Resolutions arising from the six-year review of policy

1-27/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that long-term policy 19.2.3.1 be amended to read—
“All matters affecting the quality of education are subject to collective bargaining.”

1-58/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that long-term policy 19.2.9.3 be amended to read—
“The Government of Alberta should focus on decreasing class sizes and addressing the complex class compositions that are apparent in classrooms across school authorities.”

1-65/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that long-term policy 19.2.9.10 be amended to read—
“The Government of Alberta should provide funding to
1. enable the following student–teacher ratios: Early Childhood Education, 15:1; Grades 1–3, 17:1; Grades 4–6, 23:1; Grades 7–9, 25:1; and Grades 10–12, 27:1; and
2. enable improvements to class composition.”

1-103/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that long-term policy 19.2.14.2 be amended by substitution to read—
“Every school should have an on-site, designated principal at all times.”

1-159/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that long-term policy 19.3.8.4 be amended to read—
“Collective agreements negotiated by the Association should establish a supplementary employment benefit program that entitles teachers who take maternity or adoption leave to a minimum of 16 weeks of the leave at 100 per cent of their salary and ensures that such leaves are recognized as service for the purposes of seniority and salary increments.”

1-185/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that long-term policy 19.3.12.1 be amended to read—
“Collective agreements negotiated by the Association should specify that teachers whose responsibilities are described in the Leadership Quality Standard are entitled to an allowance.”

1-190/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that long-term policy 19.3.13.1 be amended to read—
“Collective agreements negotiated by the Association should establish that the salary of a part-time teacher is calculated based on the proportional work of a full-time teacher using the formula PT AT/FT AT x Salary, where PT AT is the number of actual assignable hours allocated to the part-time teacher, FT AT is the number of assignable hours typically allocated to full-time teachers in the school and Salary is the teacher’s location on the salary grid, taking into account years of experience and years of education.”

Local resolutions

2-1/21
Edmonton Public Teachers

Be it resolved that all administrators of funds held in trust for the benefit of Alberta teachers post an annual statement of all investments.

2-2/21
Edmonton Public Teachers

Be it resolved that the Association create a Status of Racialized Teachers Working Group under the purview of the Diversity, Equity and Human Rights Committee.

2-3/21
Edmonton Public Teachers

Be it resolved that the Association offer antiracism programs and supports for use by its members.

2-4/21
Edmonton Public Teachers

Be it resolved that the Association offer antiracism education, training and professional development opportunities for its employees.

2-6/21
Edmonton Public Teachers

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to require all school authorities to equip each site with at least one automated external defibrillator and provide additional funding for school authorities to meet this requirement, along with necessary maintenance, repair and replacement costs.

2-8/21
Edmonton Public Teachers
Pembina Hills

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to reinstate full funding to the Alberta Distance Learning Centre.

2-9/21
Calgary Public Teachers

Be it resolved that the Association create a virtual meeting for local substitute chairs.

2-17/21
Rocky View

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to provide cross-ministerial resources and programming for all students with complex needs and/or who demonstrate learning challenges in online learning environments.

2-18/21
Rocky View

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta and Government of Canada to provide equitable access to the technology and high-speed internet access required for students to learn in online environments.

2-24/21
Edmonton Catholic Teachers

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to provide targeted funding for off-campus education programs.

2-25/21
Edmonton Catholic Teachers

Be it resolved that the Association urge all school authorities to include only nondiscriminatory language in their employment contracts so that gender, sexual orientation and race do not become barriers to employment for any certificated teacher.

2-33/21
Parkland Teachers’

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to consult with the Association when developing plans to respond to major and widespread disruptions of school calendars or operations.

2-34/21
Parkland Teachers’

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to provide adequate, additional, emergent funding to implement plans developed to respond to major and widespread disruptions of school calendars or operations.

2-35/21
Parkland Teachers’

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to increase funding to programs which provide early intervention and ongoing support for students with high needs to support inclusive education.

2-36/21
Parkland Teachers’

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to respect the subject-area knowledge and pedagogical expertise of Alberta’s active classroom teachers and ensure that they have, through their profession, a primary role in the curriculum review process.

2-37/21
Red Deer City

Be it resolved that the ATA Doctoral Fellowships in Education are revised to remove the requirement that the university where the doctoral program is being pursued is campus based.

Provincial Executive Council resolutions

3-2/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that optimal teaching and learning conditions include reasonable limits on class size and complexity.

3-3/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that school and system leaders be members of the bargaining unit.

3-4/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to replace the English Language Arts Authorized Novels and Nonfiction Annotated List with a guide to text selection which reflects diversity, promotes equity and honours teachers’ professional autonomy.

3-6/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge locals to have a designated position on their local council for a school leader.

3-7/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge school authorities to incorporate into their occupational health and safety workplace violence policies or administrative procedures a robust prevention section that includes a student regulation support and outcomes plan and staff safety plan.

3-8/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge school authorities to incorporate into their occupational health and safety workplace violence policies or administrative procedures training for all staff in de escalation techniques, addressing aggression and the reporting of these incidents.

3-9/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge the College of Alberta School Superintendents to collaborate with the Association to adopt specific language to address antiracism and antioppression for inclusion in division policies and administrative procedures beyond diversity and inclusion policies.

3-10/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to provide targeted funding to school authorities for programs and staff dedicated to providing wellness supports for students.

3-11/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge school authorities to establish and support divisionwide wellness committees that serve the needs of all staff.

3-12/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association provide funds to establish a mentorship program for Indigenous teachers.
[Cost: $40,000]

3-13/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association provide funds to develop a publication on Indian residential schools in Alberta.
[Cost: $17,000]

3-16/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the teachers of Alberta express to The Honourable Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Education, their collective lack of confidence in the content and design of the Draft K-6 Curriculum as released by the minister on 2021 03 29 and the deeply flawed curriculum consultation and development processes implemented by government after August 2019 that gave rise to the Draft K-6 Curriculum.

3-17/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association call upon the Government of Alberta to place a moratorium on the piloting and implementation of the Draft K-6 Curriculum as released by the minister of education on 2021 03 29 until such time as the draft has been submitted to an independent, full and open review and rewriting process led by and meaningfully involving a broad cross-section of certificated Alberta teachers and faculty members from Alberta postsecondary faculties and schools of education and is properly inclusive of Francophone, First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives; is developmentally, structurally and pedagogically sound; and enjoys the broad support of Albertans.

3-18/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the teachers of Alberta call upon school authorities to refrain from participating in or directing or otherwise exerting pressure upon or incenting the teachers they employ to participate in piloting the Draft K-6 Curriculum as released by the minister of education on 2021 03 29.

3-19/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association affirm the professional responsibility and moral right of teachers to refuse to participate in the voluntary piloting of the new Draft K-6 Curriculum as released by the Government of Alberta in March 2021 should they believe that curriculum to be structurally and developmentally unsound and potentially damaging to student learning.

3-21/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Government of Alberta delegate responsibility for the development, renewal and revision of the kindergarten to Grade 12 programs of studies to an independent and apolitical provincial curriculum development authority supported by subject-based program managers from Alberta Education and consisting of subject-matter experts from Alberta’s universities, representatives from the Alberta Teachers’ Association, active teachers from the field, and representatives from the Alberta School Councils’ Association whose recommendations concerning the content, design and implementation of programs of study would be publicly disclosed at the time they are conveyed to the minister of education for potential implementation. All curricula need to use the 2016 guiding framework as a basis for development.

3-22/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association call upon the minister of education to restore the partnership on curriculum development that was initiated in the 2016 memorandum of agreement between the Government of Alberta and the Association.

3-23/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Government of Alberta provide stable and adequate funding, to be determined after consultation with teacher preparation programs, to institutions that offer teacher preparation programs for bridging programs designed to help internationally educated teachers meet Alberta’s teacher certification requirements.

3-24/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to ensure that kindergarten to Grade 12 curricula include specific age-appropriate learning outcomes that address concepts related to gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, LGBTQ2S+ perspectives and historical events, including Alberta legal cases such as Vriend v Alberta and Klippert v The Queen.

3-25/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to direct school authorities to explore other methods of instructing students at home prior to implementing synchronous teaching and learning in classrooms.

3-26/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that school authorities encourage and respect individually determined limits on times when teachers, including those with leadership designations, are available outside school hours via means such as e-mail, text and telephone.

3-27/21
Provincial Executive Council

Be it resolved that the Government of Alberta reverse its decision to discontinue funding for the Online Reference Centre.

Assembly resolutions

4-1/21
Aspen View, Black Gold Teachers’, Calgary Public Teachers, Edmonton Catholic Teachers, Edmonton Public Teachers, Elk Island, Elk Island Catholic Teachers, Evergreen, Foothills, Fort McMurray, Fort Vermilion, Greater St. Paul, Livingstone Range, Medicine Hat, Medicine Hat Catholic Teachers, Northern Gateway, Northern Lights, Northern Spirit, Parkland, Pembina Hills, Prairie Rose, Red Deer Catholic, Red Deer City, Rocky View, St. Albert Public Teachers, St. Thomas Aquinas Teachers’, Sturgeon, Wolf Creek, Woodland Rivers

Be it resolved that the teachers of Alberta have lost confidence in the Education Minister, Adriana LaGrange.

4-2/21
Foothills
Rocky View

Be it resolved that the Association provide compensation for field members serving on the Professional Conduct Committee, Professional Conduct Appeal Committee and Professional Conduct Complainant Appeal Committee who meet and perform professional tasks on holidays or nonoperational days at the daily rate of at least 1/200 of the teacher’s annual salary.

See www.teachers.ab.ca for the complete set of approved resolutions.