CBE opts out of piloting Alberta’s draft K-6 curriculum

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The Calgary Board of Education is the latest Alberta school board to say it won’t help test the province’s controversial new draft K-6 curriculum this fall.

Meanwhile, the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) says it won’t force any of its teachers or principals to use the new curriculum, though individual classrooms may opt in.

The public board said in a statement late Friday afternoon its classrooms would not be among those piloting the curriculum, released by the province March 29. The choice to opt out was made by both the CBE Board of Trustees and administrators.

The decision was made in part due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to focus on current needs of students, the board said, but concerns over the contents of the curriculum also played a role.

“While we appreciate the government’s intention to redesign the curriculum for the benefit of student learning, we have concerns similar to those expressed by educators, academic staff, parents, and community members,” the CBE said.

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The CBE declined a request from Postmedia for an interview Friday evening.

Speaking with Postmedia Friday, CCSD superintendent Bryan Szumlas said the district believes teachers should be allowed to pilot the program to better produce feedback for a curriculum that will eventually be widely used. No teachers will be required to use the curriculum, however.

“I look at this like building a house. We would like to have the best house-builders creating the structure of the house,” Szumlas said.

“If all the educators, all the builders were to walk away, the house that could be left behind for us to live in could be like a grass hut. … If everyone walks away from this curriculum, we’ll still be living with whatever (the province) designs.”

The CCSD’s full position will be crafted in the coming days, Szumlas said, after the district returns from spring break.

Among issues groups have raised with the curriculum since its release last week is its heavy focus on world history, which some critics argue is age-inappropriate.

Students in Grade 2 will learn about topics like ancient Rome, the British Magna Carta and the Mongol Empire. Lessons on First Nations treaties won’t be taught until Grade 4 and students won’t learn about residential schools until Grade 5. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendation says students should learn about these topics from kindergarten onwards using material adjusted by age group.

Szumlas said his district had “serious concerns” over the social studies curriculum, calling its contents “horrific” and saying he wasn’t comfortable putting it in front of any children. But he said other areas of the curriculum, like science and fine arts, have merit and could be worth testing in some classrooms.

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“People are just jumping on the negative momentum of social studies and painting all the other subjects as horrific as well,” he said. “We’re working with the board and working with administration to determine which areas we will be a part of.”

Other concerns over alleged plagiarism in the draft curriculum and inadequate consultation with stakeholders have also emerged.

Nicole Sparrow, press secretary to Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, said school boards are free to choose to pilot draft curriculum for some or all school subjects.

“The entire point of a pilot for the draft curriculum is to provide in-classroom feedback to affect potential changes for the final documents,” Sparrow said.

“If some school divisions do not wish to pilot, they simply will not be able to provide direct in-classroom feedback on potential changes.”

The CBE is the largest public school board in Alberta. Last week, the Edmonton Public School Board said it also wouldn’t pilot the curriculum, which is slated to be implemented provincewide in September 2022. Others, including Elk Island Public Schools and the Wild Rose School Division, also won’t take part in the pilot.

The CBE said it hopes to give the province feedback on the draft curriculum, with plans to convene focus groups of teachers and curriculum specialists in the fall.

“The CBE supports the goal of strengthening the curriculum to prepare students for the future,” the board said. “We trust that government will consider all the feedback gathered across the province and make the necessary changes prior to implementation in September 2022.”

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Medeana Moussa, executive director of the Support Our Students Alberta advocacy group, said the group had hoped to see boards reject the draft curriculum after it was released.

“We are very pleased to see that the largest school board in Alberta recognizes that there are flaws and this curriculum draft is very problematic,” she said. “We are very happy to know the CBE won’t be subjecting children to pilot this draft.”

The province should reconvene curriculum working groups and create a new draft that Albertans are confident is developed apolitically, Moussa said.

The CBE’s decision not to pilot the draft curriculum did not come as a surprise to NDP Opposition education critic Sarah Hoffman, who said feedback from Albertans shows the curriculum is profoundly unpopular among parents and educators.

“It’s not shocking to me that more and more school districts are saying they will not be a part of the pilot,” Hoffman said.

“I think the response government should take is to pull the pilot. The government has clearly failed in this draft curriculum. It’s not going to prepare kids for higher learning in junior high or high school. It’s not going to prepare them for post-secondary and it’s not going to prepare them for the world of work.”

jherring@postmedia.com

Twitter: @jasonfherring