Alberta Education to begin piloting science, French curricula in September
The Alberta government says revised curricula for science, French language, and French literature are ready to be tested in classrooms this fall.
Alberta Education made the announcement Tuesday morning, revealing also a June 6 deadline for school authorities to notify the department of their intent to join the pilot and changes that were made to the curricula based on feedback received over the past year.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said her department was not seeking a specific number of schools to participate in the pilot in order to maintain "maximum flexibility," but that she had heard "a number of school authorities very interested."
She believes school authorities will be "well positioned" to say in three weeks whether or not they'll take part.
Alberta Education is to work with schools over the summer to prepare for September, including by providing professional learning opportunities and other resources. A total of $6.5 million is being allocated to the pilot.
Feedback will be collected throughout the pilot and final curriculum changes will be made in the spring for the start of the 2023-24 school year.
The president of the Alberta Teachers' Association said the province is rushing the curriculum changes.
"In addition to implementing—on very short notice and without adequate supports—new curriculum in three subjects, schools will be expected to take on piloting of new curriculum in up to three more subjects," Jason Schilling said in a release. "Schools are being inundated with added expectations next year, and students will suffer as a result—something that teachers, school leaders and parents do not want to see."
WHAT REVISIONS WERE MADE?
All three curricula were made more age appropriate and less dense, Alberta Education says.
Specifically, the government says that the science curriculum was updated to emphasize connections to nature, cover digital literacy and ethics, and consist of language that was accurate and objective.
As well, both the French First Language and Literature and the French Immersion Language Arts and Literature programs were revised to better include francophone perspectives and cultures. Earlier feedback had suggested strengthening the focus on oral language and bilingual or plurilingual identity.
All four of Alberta's francophone school authorities plan to participate in the pilot, according to the association representing Alberta's francophone school boards.
"We have had the curriculum implementation advisory committee group that has been made up of curriculum experts as well as teachers, administrators, superintendents, who have advised us to move forward with piloting," LaGrange said. "They feel it's very important, along with the implementation of the subjects we're bringing in in the fall."
Alberta Education is expected to release reports on the feedback it received by the end of May.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978861.1722008569!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
At least 4 buildings burned at Jasper Park Lodge, others damaged: Fairmont memo
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge said Thursday afternoon most of its structures are "standing and intact," including its iconic main lodge.
Major Canadian bank dealing with direct deposit outage on pay day
Scotiabank has acknowledged technical difficulties affecting direct deposits as clients report missed payments Friday morning. On Friday morning, the bank's client services phone line was playing an automated message assuring customers that work was underway to rectify the outage.
Elon Musk's estranged daughter calls out his 'entirely fake' claims about her childhood
Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter, publicly refuted several recent anti-trans statements her Tesla CEO and X owner father has made about her.
Reported rate of child pornography increased 52% in 2023, total crime up 3%: Statistics Canada
Last year, reported child pornography cases increased by more than 50 per cent in Canada, in part due to more cases being sent to police by specialized internet child exploitation units, according to a Statistics Canada report.
Sask. appeal court says anti-trans group cannot join constitutional dispute over pronoun law
Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has denied a political group that opposes so-called “gender ideology” intervener status in a legal dispute over the province’s controversial pronoun law.
Justin Timberlake's attorney disputes he was intoxicated when arrested for DWI
A hearing in the case of Justin Timberlake being accused of driving while intoxicated was held Friday, where an attorney for the singer disputed his arrest in June.
What we know about 'malicious' attack on French train network ahead of Olympics opening
French transport was thrust into chaos Friday just hours ahead of the Olympics 2024 opening ceremony after a series of co-ordinated 'malicious acts' upended high-speed train lines.Here's what happened and what we know so far.
When Barbie learned what a gynecologist was, so did many other people, according to new study
A new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Network Open has found that the ending in the 2023 blockbuster film 'Barbie' had an influence on online search interest in terms around gynecology, the branch of medicine that deals with women’s reproductive health.
Canada Soccer head investigating 'systemic ethical shortcoming' amid spying scandal
Canada Soccer chief executive officer Kevin Blue said he was investigating a potential 'systemic ethical shortcoming' within the program but has not considered pulling the women's soccer team from the Paris Olympics due to a drone spying scandal.