Photo: Shaun Penner / EverythingGP staff

By Shaun Penner

Draft K-6 Curriculum

Grande Prairie Public School Division will not pilot draft K-6 curriculum

Apr 27, 2021 | 8:00 PM

The Board of Trustees with the Grande Prairie Public School Division has voted to not pilot the new draft Grade K-6 curriculum next year.

The board unanimously voted not to take part in the pilot program for next year, citing a number of reasons. Among those expressed by board members Tuesday evening was a lack of time for teachers to learn and teach a brand new curriculum, issues with some of the content included in the draft and a plethora of concerns expressed by teachers and parents.

“Everybody had there own reasons that they felt were important,” said Board Chair John Lehners. “Some were mentioning learning gap, and some felt COVID was a reason (not to pilot), and some didn’t care for some of the curriculum the way it was evolving.”

This follows a decision made by the Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools board at their meeting on Monday evening, where they also decided to not pilot the draft curriculum in the 2021-22 schools year. Similar decisions were made by the Peace River School Division, Holy Family Catholic Regional Division and the Conseil scolaire du Nord-Ouest to also not pilot the draft curriculum.

Since the draft K-6 curriculum was revealed in late March by Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, many teachers, parents, and other stakeholders from across the province have spoken out against it. That includes the Alberta Teachers’ Association, who has called for all work on the current draft curriculum to be halted, while also asking for more consultation with teachers.

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However, the GPPSD board did pass a motion to write a letter to Alberta Education stating that it wished to work with the province to participate in a review and improve a curriculum for participation in the future.

“We all got involved as trustees because we want to be involved in change,” said Lehners. “That’s the same reason we want to participate in the curriculum. Getting a new curriculum is a good idea. Getting it right is an even better idea.”

“We have some excellent staff who have experience in curriculum and teaching in the classroom, and we’ve got lots of people that will put their hands up and say ‘you know what, I would participate in the process that makes an even better curriculum’.”

Lehners says he has recently had a chance to express that sentiment Minister LaGrange directly. He adds that he feels LaGrange is listening to the concerns brought forward.

“I think she is very receptive to those kinds of things, and so she is opening up and being a little more flexible in the way ideas and solutions can come forward,” said Lehners.

“So, that’s good to hear.”

The draft Grade K-6 curriculum is to be piloted by some school divisions across the province starting in September of 2021. The province says once the draft is refined from feedback as part of that pilot, all elementary students will be learning from the new curriculum in 2022-23.