The following message was distributed to the education sector earlier this afternoon. For the past eighteen months, the education sector has engaged in many conversations about the future of learning in our province. The five year agreement between the Government of Alberta and the Alberta Teacher's Association, subsequently effected in part by collective agreements between school boards and ATA locals, created a clear time frame where work like Inspiring Education could happen without the...

In recent weeks, as school boards have been preparing and debating their budgets for the coming year, there has been a lot of public discussion about whether government is fulfilling its agreement to fund teachers' salary increases. To repeat what I have said many times to school boards, teachers, reporters, and anyone else who will listen: government made a commitment in the five year agreement and we are not backing away from that commitment....

Thank very much, President Henderson. I certainly appreciate the invitation to join you this morning, and the invitation to join you last night. I appreciated the opportunity to meet with so many of you and to have a chance to talk frankly about what's important to us in education. It is a pleasure to be here with you today with my Parliamentary Assistant, the member for Edmonton-Decore, Janice Sarich. If you have any tough...

Recently, many people have been writing my office with concerns about the diploma exams that were written at the end of January 2010. I asked the department to thoroughly investigate each of the issues that were raised. The diploma exam program in its present form is a significant milestone in students' formal education. These tests are designed to be exit exams that assess students' knowledge of the Alberta programs of study. Like the courses...

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...

Dr. Swann: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This government constantly boasts about how much better off Alberta is in weathering the recession while refusing to honour teacher contracts, repair aging schools, or adequately support special-needs education. To the Minister of Education: if this government isn't willing to carry out its educational obligations such as bargaining in good faith with our teachers, will you at least provide greater autonomy to locally elected schools boards...

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government abandoned its commitment to fund a five-year agreement with teachers. Now, with the 2010-11 academic year approaching and no extra money for teachers' salaries on the table, school boards, students, and families are about to feel the crunch. To the minister: with the Calgary board of education considering eliminating 150 positions to cover its $21 million shortfall, what plans does the minister have to prevent layoffs?...

Mr. Allred: Mr. Speaker, one of the best ways to enhance Alberta's competitiveness is to maintain our world-leading standing in education. Other countries recognize the extraordinary importance that education will play in their economic future, and their students are leaping ahead of Alberta students. I was pleased the other evening to go to hear an educational consultant from Finland speak in St. Albert. To the Minister of Education. Finland has what is, very simply,...

Ms Pastoor: Mr. Speaker, in 2007 this government signed an agreement with the Alberta teachers. At the time the Premier wrote to ATA, "I pledge to seek the Legislative Assembly's support for the necessary funding to enable the Memorandum of Agreement's full execution." Now the government is sending mixed signals about its willingness to live up to the agreement on teachers' wages, and school boards are more than concerned that they soon will be...

Mr. Jacobs: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our rural school board in my constituency is facing an $850,000 shortfall in the 2010-11 school year despite the announcements by the Minister of Education that school boards will receive a zero per cent increase. I don't know if zero per cent is an entirely correct figure as I have heard that school boards will in fact receive an overall budget decrease of over 4.17 per cent, 1.17...

Ms Notley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Education is shortchanging students by deliberately underfunding Alberta's public education system. By the time September rolls around and teachers are due for a salary increase, this minister will have racked up at least $175 million in an education funding shortfall. Why is the Minister of Education taking resources out of the classroom instead of doing what's right and providing sufficient funding up front to ensure...

Mr. Fawcett: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Approximately $572 million have been put into the Alberta Initiative for School Improve­ment since 2002. What I've heard from a lot of teachers and students and parents is that this money takes teachers out of the classroom and puts them into administrative or management-type roles. I'm curious as to what value taxpayers and students are receiving through this program. To the Minister of Education: are there any quantitative...

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last Thursday a provincial arbitrator finally resolved an ongoing dispute over the correct wage increase teachers should be given this year. However, the fact that we are still dealing with this issue almost a year later is symbolic of this government's inept management of our public education system. To the Minister of Education: why did the minister choose to leave school boards in the lurch yet again by...

On January 21, Minister Hancock announced the appointment of an official trustee and an inquiry team in Northland School Division. The official trustee, Dr. Colin Kelly, replaced the 23 members of the Northland board, while the three-person inquiry team has been asked to examine how student outcomes and governance in the school district can be improved....

Do you know a great teacher? Students, parents, teachers, principals and community members are encouraged to nominate a teacher or principal for their exceptional work with K-12 students in Alberta classrooms. Nominations for the 2010 Excellence in Teaching Awards must be submitted to Alberta Education by February 5. English and French nomination packages, which include details of eligibility and selection criteria, are available at this page: http://www.education.alberta.ca/teachers/excellence.aspx...

This month's Atlantic has a provocative article posing the question, "What Makes a Great Teacher?" The author looks at work that the Teach for America project has done since 2002 to answer this question. The findings suggest that students' socioeconomic status may not matter as much as is sometimes believed:...

The Calgary Herald recently published an article misleadingly titled "Calgary-area school bids to save cafeteria" that goes well beyond the challenges of operating a rural high school to discuss several other current concerns about education in Alberta. The article also covers concerns about what the spring budget will mean for education (read more here), the Stop the Cuts campaign (read more here), Inspiring Education and Setting the Direction, a potential school closure (which is the...

Are you thinking about going into teaching? Besides the rewards of seeing your students learn and succeed, new research from Gallup shows that teaching is one of the best career paths for personal well-being....

Mrs. Sarich: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. School divisions across this province are facing some significant workforce planning challenges over the next few years. A high number of teacher retirements, growing high student enrolment, and a decreasing supply of qualified teachers in specialized subject areas as well as in certain areas in the province are all leading to the need to plan for our teaching workforce. In northern Alberta these challenges are magnified 10-fold....

On November 17, a small group of students from the University of Alberta Education Students' Association gathered on the steps of the Legislature as part of the Alberta Teachers' Association's "Stop the Cuts" campaign. Minister Hancock met with representatives from the students' association, and then spoke to the students about their concerns. Minister Hancock: So what is it you want me to know?...