Cell phone policy on agenda at ATA General Assembly in Calgary

More than 500 provincial delegates gathered in Calgary on Saturday for the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) General Assembly, which covered topics such as curriculum, class sizes, funding and student smartphone use.

ATA president Jason Schilling said: “(A) big debate around funding and protecting government. We're the most underfunded jurisdiction in Canada.”

“It has a big impact on our classrooms,” he added. “It affects the resources available to our students, especially students with special needs.”

The annual meeting sets the ATA budget along with policies for the following year. According to Schilling, Alberta does not fund education at the Canadian average, which affects the ability of education officials to teach children.

“We also have some of the biggest classrooms we've seen in a long time,” Schilling said. “We have students who don't have the resources, we have students who can't get tested to learn about some of their challenges. learning and how to support them.”

According to the ATA president, these difficulties have led to teachers leaving the profession.

Literacy and numeracy exams

On Saturday, the union voted on the proposal to review literacy and numeracy tests for students in grades K-3.

“These literacy and numeracy tests are given to see where the gaps are in students, but it takes a lot of time away from the classroom and it takes teachers weeks to do it,” Schilling said.

Cheyenne Kopinsky teaches first grade in the Edmonton Catholic Schools Division and says teachers need to be more involved in curriculum development.

“We want to be at the table. “We want to work with the government because we want the best for our students and we want to support families and their education,” Kopinsky said.

Debating Social Studies

Starting this fall, a new social studies curriculum will be piloted for Alberta students in grades K-6. It will become mandatory in 2025.

“It's just adding another layer of workload for teachers,” Kopinsky said. “He has a lot of fundamental mistakes. It disrespects Indigenous perspectives, Francophone perspectives in Canada, and the identities of students in our classrooms.”

Another proposal being discussed by delegates is banning students from using cell phones during class.

“Teachers will have professional autonomy and discretion over when they want to use these cell phones in their classrooms,” Schilling said.

Students may use cell phones for medical purposes as needed.

Naomi Herriman, Instructional Coach and Inclusive Education Coordinator, Evergreen Catholic School Division.

“Cell phones take up a lot of teacher time, administrator time, and when I work with special needs students, I hear a lot from students and they really feel like they can't put themselves down. the cell phone was turned off,” Herriman said.