Alberta education minister to do further consultation on new social studies curriculum
CBC
Alberta's new education minister will return attention to the new social studies curriculum, with plans to meet soon with teachers, Indigenous leaders and francophone representatives, he says.
Minister Demetrios Nicolaides has no timeline for releasing updated new versions of curriculum for the subject, which has been hotly debated for years.
"I just want to make sure that I'm hearing it firsthand, and I'm getting a good perspective," he said of consultations planned for September and October.
Nicolaides, who has a PhD in social and political sciences, said he'd like curriculum designers to develop a social studies curriculum for kindergarten to Grade 12 all at once, to "look at the whole picture." However, he says it would become mandatory in stages to make school adoption manageable.
Nicolaides said he's also looking to hear from interested parties on the yet-unfinished new fine arts curriculum and junior and senior high curricula in all subjects.
Alberta's attempt to replace its K-12 curriculum in all subjects, in English and French, has been a protracted affair, stick-handled by three provincial governments with clashing philosophies.
New programs of studies for math and English language arts became mandatory in K-3 last school year, and will expand to Grades 4-6 this year.
The new curriculum for science, French immersion language arts and Francophone language arts, will also become mandatory in schools for K-3 students this fall.
Although many teachers, academics and parents have found fault with revised versions of all subjects — including claims some of the material is age inappropriate and culturally exclusive — the public outrage about social studies and fine arts was the most vehement.
It prompted Nicolaides' predecessor to scale back the rollout of those two subjects, and send them back to the department for an overhaul.
A year ago, former Minister Adriana LaGrange had hoped new versions of all subjects would be used in all elementary grades by fall 2024. That timeline is now unclear.
Although the UCP government appointed groups of teachers, academics and Indigenous experts to review the drafts, they later said the consultation was superficial and their feedback was largely dismissed. Most school authorities refused to pilot test draft versions while they were optional.
"I'm a firm believer that when you have more views and diverse viewpoints at the table, you deliver stronger products," Nicolaides said when asked how any new feedback would be incorporated.
Alberta Teachers' Association president Jason Schilling said it's "refreshing" to hear Nicolaides strike a collaborative tone.
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