Alberta’s education minister responded Saturday to claims the United Conservative Party would pause and review the curriculum overhaul if elected.

“I think it tells us two things,” Minister David Eggen said at a conference in Edmonton on Sunday.

“Number one, the UCP and Jason Kenney understand very little about education, and number two, Jason Kenney is willing to stoop very low to—quite honestly—be dishonest about what’s going on in our curriculum process for the sake of scoring cheap political points.”

Eggen’s was responding to comments made by Kenney on Saturday at an election rally.

At the event, the UCP leader promised, if elected, to “stop the NDP's ideological rewrite of the school curriculum, and we will consult with parents and experts ... to develop a modern curriculum that is focused on essential knowledge and skills instead of political agendas and failed teaching fads.”

“We will reform our education system to offer more practical, experiential and apprenticeship learning for everything from computer coding to the trades, so that we have a workforce that is ready for the future.”

Alberta is in the middle of a $60-million Kindergarten-through-Grade 12 curriculum rewrite.

Eggen called the process two years of hard work. He said the new curriculum will focus on basic skills, numeracy, computational thinking, financial literacy, computer coding and place greater emphasis on First Nations perspectives.

An estimated 100,000 Albertans have weighed in on the curriculum update through surveys and consultations.

Kenney expanded on his earlier comments on Sunday, saying in part, “We would pause it, consult broadly, but we agree with the NDP: the curriculum does need to be updated and modernized.”

He added there could be things from the current review that would be kept in such a situation.  

“This doesn’t have to be an all-or-or choice. We don’t need to throw out the baby with the bath water. But we certainly do need to get much stronger results in areas like math, reading and, I believe, a more balanced approach to social studies.”  

Field testing of the curriculum is expected to start in September for the government's Kindergarten to Grade 4 curriculum. No dates have been set for implementation.

The ministry is still working on an updated curriculum for older grades.

With files from Sarah Plowman