EDMONTON—A professor who worked on Alberta’s curriculum review says the new government’s pause on the initiative is “very disappointing.”

The United Conservative government informed school boards last week that it would halt a field test of Alberta’s new kindergarten to Grade 4 education curriculum — initially planned for this fall at hundreds of schools — to do a new round of consultations with parents, teachers and subject matter experts.

“We’re really doing our students a disservice by continuing to use extremely outdated curriculum,” said Carla Peck, a professor of social studies education at the University of Alberta, pointing out some of the curriculum dates back to the 1980s.

“Some of the current curriculum refers to VHS things and things like this. It doesn’t even reflect the current reality of materials that teachers use or things that students are exposed to in their daily lives.”

The government has not announced what new voices will be included in the review, or has given a cost or timeline for its completion.

Colin Aitchison, press secretary for Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, said LaGrange was unavailable for comment Monday, but said in an email that a timeline will be made “once a direction is set” for the review.

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“The government still intends to advance the development of the K-12 curriculum, however, we were clear in our election commitment that we were going to pause so we could have time to review what has been drafted so far, and to consult,” Aitchison wrote. “This pause will give us the opportunity to make sure that we are taking the right approach towards improving outcomes for our children.”

Peck, who was part of a 60-member teacher and educator focus group that reviewed the new social studies curriculum, questioned the government’s assertion that more consultation is needed.

“I mean, we’re talking thousands of thousands of responses on surveys, tons and tons of focus groups that were open to the public over several years. And so for the minister to imply that there was not enough consultation done … it doesn’t really reflect the reality,” Peck said.

NDP Opposition critic Sarah Hoffman also criticized the move Monday, saying parents and schools need more direction and transparency from the government.

Hoffman was health minister in June 2016 when the NDP government announced the six-year, $64-million curriculum overhaul for all subjects and grades. Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservative government had previously started work on a new curriculum in 2014.

The government assembled teams made up of university professors, education ministry staff, Indigenous teachers, and teachers from public, Catholic, private, charter and francophone schools to start rewriting the curriculum. Feedback was gathered through online surveys, working groups and roundtable meetings.

The NDP released a draft of its K-4 curriculum rewrite last October, with plans to test it in classrooms starting this fall and to implement it provincewide as soon as fall 2020. The rest of the curriculum rewrite, for grades 5 through 12, was scheduled to roll out in phases by 2022.

The UCP made a campaign promise to pause the process.

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Mount Royal University political science professor Lori Williams suspects the new government will likely end up keeping the bulk of the new curriculum, but make some tweaks to appeal to the party base.

“During the election, they made much about the fact that there was something that was ideological about this set of changes. The reality is that the ideological dimension of this debate is much more on the UCP side than on the NDP side. It was a progressive conservative initiative, evidence-based, broadly based on consultation,” Williams said.

“Sadly, they’re playing politics with something that’s pretty important to the students and future workers in this province.”

Premier Jason Kenney has hinted in the past about scrapping the new curriculum entirely, claiming during the election campaign that the NDP was rewriting the curriculum “in secret.” At the UCP’s 2018 general meeting, Kenney said he would “put that curriculum through the shredder” if the NDP tries to “smuggle more of their politics into the classroom,” playing to fears from some conservatives that the new social studies curriculum would be overrun by left-wing ideology and social justice issues.

Among other points, Kenney took issue with the use of the word “settlers” being used in a draft document and not “Canadians” or “Albertans” where the province’s pre-1905 history was referenced.

Peck said it would be unethical and a “massive disappointment” if the new government decided to make any changes that omitted the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Financial literacy, engagement with the internet, and content on personal space and boundaries were among the skills set to be field tested this fall under the new curriculum. It also aimed to reflect recent advances in science and technology, introduce fractions at an earlier age and update materials on residential schools.

Edmonton Public Schools chair Trisha Estabrooks said it did not come as a surprise that the government halted the field testing, but she was relieved to hear there are no plans to scrap the new curriculum outright.

Estabrooks said the NDP and the previous PC government did a good job consulting with parents, students, teachers and other stakeholders.

“Hundreds of Edmonton public teachers have poured their heart and soul into rewriting this curriculum, and dozens of our schools were ready to go to field test this curriculum,” Estabrooks said Monday.

“In some ways I think it’s a relief, in that millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, thousands of hours of time and the dedication of so many people won’t be scrapped.”

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