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Almost 500 schools in Alberta will get newly created “complexity teams” to help educators navigate the academic and behavioural needs of its youngest students, Premier Danielle Smith announced Thursday.
The province will allocate $143 million to deploy the teams — to be made up of one teacher and two educational assistants — in 476 schools, said Smith.
The teams will provide in-class assistance to teachers such as helping students learn English, providing gifted students with more enrichment or managing disruptive students, according to a news release from the Alberta government.
The province also said the complexity teams will be able to bring additional specialists to classrooms when needed.
“Our government recognizes that, if we want to maintain our world-class education system, our approach has to change just as quickly,” Smith told reporters Thursday.
The $143-million allocation is informed by new data gathered by the province to better understand how class complexity affects staff and student needs, said Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.
This self-reported data from more than 89,000 classrooms across over 1,500 schools will be released to the public on Thursday through an online government portal.
Smith told reporters that the data shows class sizes are “significantly higher” in some areas of Alberta than in others, noting a provincial average of about 25 students per classroom.
WATCH | Alberta educators on teaching after the strike:
How are Alberta teachers feeling three months after striking?
It’s been three months since the Alberta government ordered teachers back to work after a strike in October. Since then, teachers have continued to express their concerns regarding classroom complexity and their ability to support students’ needs. The CBC spoke to teachers at the North Central Teachers’ Convention about how they feel since returning to the classroom.
Nicolaides noted complexity issues also exist in junior and senior high classes, but the decision to place teams in elementary schools is aimed at ensuring “early intervention and foundational stability.”
“Research indicates that addressing student needs during the formative K-6 years is more effective, and less costly, than attempting to remediate behavioural or academic gaps in secondary school,” he said.
Thursday’s $143 million allocation comes after Smith and Nicolaides announced plans in November to devote $400 million to the province’s class size and complexity cabinet committee.
The committee — which consists of the premier, education minister, other ministers, school board members and teachers — was created in October to help guide government policy and deploy resources to deal with educational concerns regarding classroom conditions.
This came after Alberta teachers were ordered back to work after a three-week strike. During the strike, teachers raised concerns regarding compensation and what some call deteriorating classroom conditions.
A January survey of more than 5,700 Alberta teachers found that around 95 per cent of respondents reported feeling stressed and that they were pessimistic about the future of teaching. The report, released by the ATA, cites systemic challenges like underfunding and provincial policies as factors that respondents say are exacerbating their concerns.
All 61 school authorities in Alberta will receive at least one complexity team. Schools in Edmonton will receive 143 teams, while 171 will go to Calgary. The remaining 162 teams will be stationed in school districts elsewhere in Alberta.
To measure the success of the complexity teams, Nicolaides said the province will conduct surveys and collect both qualitative and quantitative data.
The creation of complexity teams, said Smith, will support the province’s previous commitments to hire 3,000 new teachers and 1,500 new educational assistants over the next three years. Nicolaides said the hiring for these roles will be overseen by individual school boards.
“Our message to teachers and to school administrators is this: We have heard you, we’re here for you and help is on the way,” Smith said. “We want you back doing what you do best: teaching, providing leadership and shaping the next generation of young Albertans.”
Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, called the announcement an admission from the government that it has underfunded schools for years. He said teachers have also been telling the province that complexity is the norm in Alberta classrooms.
“We have been saying this for years to government and they have failed to listen,” Schilling said. “So they’ve got the ability, they just need the political will to do more because they’ve got the ability to do more.”
Schilling said the ATA will analyze the government data to see if it aligns with what its members see in the classroom.
He is calling on the government to follow up with supports to Grades 7 to 12, which were excluded from Thursday’s funding announcement.
Amanda Chapman, NDP MLA for Calgary-Beddington and the opposition education critic, said the government is taking a tiny step toward fixing a problem they created.
She said she is concerned the province hasn’t set a timeline for getting these teams in place, and has questions about how the initiative will be monitored.
“What are the outcomes that they are looking to address?” she asked.
“How will we know if those outcomes are met? I hope that this government will be transparent with Albertans.”