Province to collaborate with educators to develop new junior high curriculums
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on November 15, 2024.
news@medicinehatnews.com Beginning this month the province will be working with education partners, teachers, First Nations education directors and the Alberta Teachers Association to develop draft curriculums for junior high level math, social studies, phys-ed and career and life management, known as CALM. In a press release issued Thursday the province is looking for feedback on providing more educational content in fields including careers in education, financial literacy, basic life skills and home maintenance, with intentions of releasing a public draft next spring. “This will help inform the organization of content and courses so school authorities can meet students’s needs for career readiness while helping support their success in the classroom and life after school,” states the press release. The draft curriculum would include mathematics for Grades 7-9, social studies for Grade 7-9, physical education from Grades 7-10 and career and life management for Grades 7-10, and plans to align with recent changes to the province’s elementary curriculum that began in the 2022-23 school year. This month the province will also begin work to recruit teachers and review draft content and provide input to help develop the changes to the curriculum. “The collaboration with education partners at different stages in the engagement process will ensure their knowledge and perspectives are considered at the right time,” states the release. Since the 2022-23 school year all divisions have implemented a new K-6 curriculum in six subjects including language arts, mathematics, physical education and wellness and science, as well as French immersion and French first language. Next school year divisions will have the option to pilot the new draft junior high and career education curriculum in classrooms to provide further feedback. “The expertise and insights of our education partners are essential as we work together to build a comprehensive curriculum that will inspire a passion for learning and connect students more closely to careers,” said Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides. 11-10
People often criticize schools. Sometimes criticism is that schools should be teaching more life skills, but likely just as often, the criticism is that certain topics are the responsibility of parents which schools should have no part of.
Who should teach your child basic life skills and home maintenance? Do we really need our schools to show your child how to change a flat tire, shut-off and drain the outside hose in winter or clean a bathtub?
I agree, financial skills like borrowing and interest rates are perfect for school — because they make mathematics practical and relevant. But we are far from the 1960’s where school girls learned to sew and make dinner in Home Economics while boys learned to rebuild a lawnmower engine in Shop.
I’m not saying making a meal, fixing a button or hanging a picture aren’t good life skills — I am saying that in the province of Alberta, the law dictates each student gets 950 to 1000 hours of school instruction overseen by a professional teacher who has 4 or 5 years of University training in their subject areas and in pedagogy (how to teach). That is the law.
Do we really need professional teacher’s to also teach things every child should be learning at home — or through a community-based program?
The world is complex. Employers are demanding higher entry level skills and knowledge. How many of those 1000 in-school instructional hours should be diverted from things that will make our children successful in the job market?
Or,
1. Should the Province, instead, publish a ‘curriculum’ of skills and topics society expects Parents to teach at home?
2. Should Provincial, local and communities figure out how to use all those unused school facilities after-hours? To sponsor groups and organizations who will get children to put down their phones and to learn those life skills outside our already busy education system?
Someone said ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ — so, villagers, let’s get this going and stop waiting for someone else to do it for us.