Total of 2,000 educators head to U of L for teachers’ convention

The South Western Alberta Teachers’ Convention took place at the University of Lethbridge on Thursday. The event will also be held on Friday. Katherine Pritchard from the Alberta Teachers’ Association, says the convention is a great way to showcase and celebrate our teachers.

“Teachers’ conventions have actually been going on for a very long time. I think the first one was held before Alberta was even a province. Here today at SWATCA, we have about 2,000 teachers. So all the divisions around here, we also have teachers from Kainai, Piikani, and the Francophone School here to engage in professional development. So we had a great keynote this morning, Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, and now teachers are off to various sessions. We have, I think, 159 different sessions to match all the interests and needs of our teachers.”

At least one convention is held in our province every Thursday and Friday in February and early March. The largest is the Calgary City Teachers’ Convention, which hosts well over 11,000 delegates. These events are fully funded by teachers through their association fees.

For a full list of speaking sessions, you can visit https://swatca2023.sched.com/