In my view, ensuring all of Alberta’s children receive a world class education is one of the most important roles our provincial government can play in building our province. In partnership with the important core values taught by parents, education provides a launching point for a healthy and contributing citizen. To deny a child a proper education is to greatly increase the risk of losing that child to ignorance, poverty and even crime. As a parent of 4 young boys all currently in or about to enter the public system, the quality of Alberta’s education system is a top priority for me personally as well as politically.
Shifting Education Funding to the Classroom
The provincial government spends more per capita than any other province on education. The problem is that tens of millions of those dollars are wasted on what is a massive centralized bureaucracy in Edmonton. For example, in my view we spend millions on unnecessary standardized testing for Grade 3 students. We spend millions more finding ways to burden our classroom teachers with additional paperwork, recordkeeping and other make-work projects. Personally, I want our teachers spending their time teaching rather than filling out forms!
It is my view that the provincial government should work on moving millions of dollars in funding away from centralized bureaucracies and towards frontline teachers and staff in our children’s schools. This means flowing more funding directly to individual schools, where principals, teachers, and parents know best where it is needed.
Educational Choice
A distinguishing and important feature of Alberta’s education system is that it provides parents with a greater range of educational choices than do the systems of other jurisdictions in North America.
Although strong public schools are critical to our education system, charter schools, private schools and home-schooling provide educational opportunities and teaching methods that are sometimes unavailable in our public system. In fact, our public school boards have responded to competition from charter, home and private schooling by rolling out a diverse range of excellent core and optional courses that are second-to-none in North America.
Our public schools have proven themselves able to compete with the best that charter, home and private schools have to offer. Continuing to foster this culture of educational innovation and competition will pay dividends for our teachers, parents and children for decades to come.
Student-Centered Learning
As internet and computer technologies continue their exponential advances, it is becoming clear that current teaching models need to be altered. For over a hundred years, the traditional classroom model of a teacher lecturing students from in front of a chalkboard served as the best way to teach large numbers of students simultaneously.
However, this traditional model also has limitations. It often results in gifted students having their potential restricted by peers who may not learn as quickly. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some students who fail to grasp key concepts are moved on to higher grades and more complicated subject matter regardless of whether or not they are ready. This can result in frustration, the domination of a teacher’s time by a few struggling students, perpetual poor grades, and even behavioral problems. Furthermore, all students respond to different teaching methods in different ways. The standard classroom lecture model may work well for some students, but for others it results in a constant battle to comprehend and learn.
I believe Alberta has the opportunity to lead the world in the way we deliver education to our children. Using emerging internet and computer technologies to complement the work of caring and competent teachers will fundamentally alter for the better the way we educate our children.
Imagine an education system where the classroom is entirely centered around the learning needs of each individual student. Imagine a learning model where a student can take the time needed and select pedagogies specific to his or her learning capacities to master a specific competency before moving on to new material. Gifted students would be given the tools to excel and reach their full potential. Students who need more time and practice to master the basics would receive such before moving on. In short, our children would be able to learn at the right pace and in the right way for them, rather than participating in the traditional one-size-fits-all approach.
Big changes such as these are always difficult; however, I am convinced that Alberta’s teachers, educational administrators and parents are up for the challenge. We owe it to our children to do so.
