Historically, Alberta has a strong tradition of collaboration between parents, educators, business owners, school boards, and government to move the public education system forward. The combined efforts of these parties led to a curriculum and education system that was the envy of other provinces as well as renowned as a top performing education system internationally.

Unfortunately, the current government has laid this collaborative spirit to waste, and it has ploughed ahead with policy decisions aimed at encouraging privatization of education as well as an ideologically based curriculum that is not rooted in the best educational practice and research. The Alberta Teachers’ Association, in phase two of its Stand for Education campaign, hopes to reignite the public conversation and spirit of collaboration by inviting parents, grandparents, teachers, school board members, business leaders, municipal leaders, Francophone and Indigenous leaders to develop a hopeful vision for public education.

The Association will host seven roundtable discussions, in December and January to examine the question “What are your hopes for Alberta’s children and our public schools, so that they can thrive now and into the future?”
At each session, participants will share their ideas and experiences in this complex time to re-envision what public education can be and how this can be accomplished. Following the sessions, the ideas generated will be gathered and compiled into a report that reflects the diverse experiences of Albertans, and their collective wisdom proposing solutions for vibrant public schools.

There will be four in-person sessions.

There will be three virtual sessions, with one focusing on a conversation with Francophone Albertans, another focusing on conversations with Indigenous Albertans, and a final virtual session for participants who are unable to attend the in-person sessions who still wish to engage in the roundtable discussions.
Registration for each of the sessions can be done on the Stand for Education website.

In addition to Association-sponsored roundtable discussions, a “workshop in a box” can be downloaded from the Stand for Education website by school councils and communities, locals, or other groups wishing to hold their own in-person roundtable events. The workshop in a box provides step by step instructions for how to go about hosting your own roundtable discussions in your community. Further, the workshop in a box is available in both French and English.

We are excited to learn more about what these meaningful conversations will yield for a vision for public education. Undoubtedly, the collective wisdom of Albertans will provide insights and solutions for how we can work together to help every student succeed during these complex times and into the future.