Alberta government proposes changes to junior high curriculum

What students are learning successful inferior precocious is the adjacent successful enactment for an update by the Alberta government.

With changes to the simple program present rolled out, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says it’s the logical adjacent step.

“We’ve been spending the past mates of years updating the simple program ‘K to 6’. Most of that enactment is done present truthful we tin crook our attraction to the inferior precocious curriculum,” Nicolaides told Global News.

The state is looking astatine updating mathematics and societal studies for grades 7 to 9, carnal acquisition and wellness for grades 7 to 10, and tweaking the Career and Life Management program.

The acquisition curate says engagement has already started amongst teachers, acquisition unit and different stakeholders.

According to the province, the restructuring to the inferior precocious program volition see contented for vocation education, fiscal literacy, basal beingness skills and location attraction pending feedback from their consultations.

He believes the restructuring volition let students to research vocation options sooner.

“For inferior high, we’re looking astatine carnal acquisition and wellness arsenic 1 of the precedence subjects to commencement updating. That’s wherever a batch of important conversations volition hap astir fiscal literacy and different beingness skills that are captious to semipermanent pupil success, truthful we privation to get the shot rolling connected that,” Nicolaides said.

But the president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association raises respective concerns, saying it could acceptable kids back.

To start, Jason Schilling says students presently going done the simple schoolhouse program are struggling.

“Teachers identified that earlier successful the process but changes were ne'er made to the curriculum,” Schilling explained. “Kids are struggling with those concepts. Something that was traditionally taught successful people 7 to 8 is present being taught successful Grade 5. It’s not age-appropriate.”

The state says they’ll enactment with the Alberta Teachers’ Association and different acquisition bodies to enlistee unit and look implicit the draft. Schilling questions whether recommendations they marque would beryllium considered, due to the fact that helium says recommendations made during consultations for the simple schoolhouse program weren’t addressed.

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He adds that teachers consulted successful this existent circular are required to motion a non-disclosure agreement.

“Teachers aren’t capable to, if they are progressive successful the process, speech openly astir what the process was similar and what their concerns were, and if it was reflected successful the draft,” Schilling said.

Nicolaides says they’re taking the feedback into information during this existent draught process.

“There’s nary decisions that person been made. We privation to get what the antithetic perspectives. But recognizing that the earlier we tin speech to students astir immoderate of the vocation opportunities that exist, the amended presumption they’ll beryllium successful to marque an informed decision,” helium said.

The Ministry of Education hopes the draught volition beryllium completed and approved by Spring 2025. If approved, immoderate schools would person the enactment to aviator the draught inferior precocious and vocation acquisition program and supply feedback.

Once that’s complete, the state could instrumentality the changes sometime successful 2026.