Mr. Bhullar: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Many of the world's leading educational thinkers believe that education systems around North America are systematically draining creativity out of our children by focusing on standardized curriculum, standardized instruction, and standardized testing. To the Minister of Education: what is your department doing to ensure our system is developing and building upon the natural ability and passion of our students?

Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A very interesting question. Of course, many people have seen the TED broadcast by Sir Ken Robinson talking about systems of education driving creativity out of the process or out of the students. I'd like to think that in Alberta, as one of the leading-edge educational systems in the world and recognized as such around the world, we are not doing that, but that obviously speaks to what's happening in each and every one of our classrooms across the province. That's why we have an Inspiring Education process talking about what education needs to be for our students to be successful not only today but over the next 20, 30 years into the future.

Mr. Bhullar: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How does our system ensure that students do not become or feel alienated or disengaged from our schooling systems because of our methods of teaching and testing?

Mr. Hancock: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the Inspiring Education process is about how we make sure that our education system is relevant to our students not only in terms of the competen­cies, the attributes, the skills, and the knowledge that they need to have to be effective going forward but how they build creativity and innovation into the education process. It's about making sure that our teachers are well prepared for their teaching profession and that they have the opportunity to stay current through professional development and stay passionate about what they are doing. I believe the Inspiring Education process will provide a great platform going forward for us to do exactly that in our education system.

Mr. Bhullar: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question to the same minister. The minister brought up the role of teachers.

Obviously, teachers have a very significant role in education. How do we assess the performance of our teachers?

Mr. Hancock: Well, first and foremost, Mr. Speaker, we have to respect teachers as professionals. Teachers have an obligation as professionals to keep themselves current and to understand what the challenges are with respect to the students that come before them in their classrooms and in their schools. That's first and foremost. We have to understand and respect the role of principals as curricular leaders and their role to ensure that their teachers are engaging students and are engaged in modern and progressive pedagogy and educational practices. Beyond that, it's a management issue with respect to teaching quality standards. We're reviewing our teaching quality standards act, and we expect that all teachers will fall within the teaching quality standards.