ATA looking forward to working with new government

Alberta Teachers Association’s president, Jason Schilling, says he is looking forward to working with this new government following Monday night’s election. Schilling says the hope is that there will be a collaborative effort to work towards some of the issues and concerns teachers have. He says there is a lot of work that still needs to be done.  

“We’re looking to address class sizes. We’re looking to address the complexity of needs that our students are coming into our classrooms. Not only learning needs, but also social, emotional needs counselors, psychologists, therapists to work with our students. There’s a lot of support that is needed for our students, especially after the pandemic. There are still a lot of concerns around curriculum, the resources for that at the implementation of the curriculum, and then looking at the funding model that has been affecting larger jurisdictions that are seeing an increasing number of students and smaller ones. We’re creating a have not situation with funding in our province, and we need to find a way to make sure that every student is seen as an investment in this province.”

Schilling says he has spoken with Premier Smith in the past on these issues and hopes relationship building is a priority for the next education minister.