With Stampede starting and other summer activities well underway, hitting the books is the last thing high school students want to be thinking about.
For many Calgary students, though, summer school has become an asset to open up their school-year schedules. In the summer of 2026, both the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) have thousands of high school students opting for summer courses.
Dylan Vasas, who has experience teaching many levels of high school math both in summer and during the school year, said that summer school gives students a perspective and learning environment that is hard to find elsewhere.
“One thing I’ve come to see over the years is we’re never going to hit the utopia when it comes to learning; there isn’t one learning model that’s going to serve every single student we have,” he said.
“Having things like online learning, summer school, night school, or a traditional five-month semester, we’re trying to offer what’s going to work best for the learner that we have, and so when you’ve got the right student for summer school, that’s great for them.”
Vasas, who is himself a product of summer school, said that being able to lock in on one or two courses during the summer, rather than three or four during the year, has really helped both him and his students.
From an instructor’s perspective, additional teaching doesn’t add to Vasas’ burnout; it actually helps it.
“Believe it or not, I have a lot of colleagues who were like, ‘Are you crazy, aren’t you burnt out?’ Yes, I’m tired, but you get to the end of the school year where it’s been go, go, go, and we fall off a cliff, suddenly everything’s done, everyone’s gone and it’s quite an emotional shock,” he told LWC.
“You build these strong relationships, you watch students grow over the year as well. What I’ve found is I’d feel good about my teaching, and I didn’t get to think about how I was feeling hitting that wall at the end of the school year, and then I would build more strong relationships with students who had the same four or five week experience I did.”
Opportunity to increase marks and further learning
Sarah Hamilton, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Mount Royal University, said that each year, more students are realizing the value of summer school.
“We’re starting to recognize the opportunity that can come with it for some students. People are noticing that it can be an opportunity and not a punishment,” she said.
“There used to be the reputation from all those movies back in like the 80s and 90s, even the Breakfast Club, which wasn’t summer school, but people perceive things the way that it’s been presented to them, and without having a conversation about what it actually can provide, they’re stuck in that perception.”
A student’s reasoning for choosing to take a summer school course can vary, CBE Education Director Ken Weipert said, but most fall along the lines of creating schedule space or re-taking a course for a higher mark.
“Students are busy during the year, and in summer school, they can explore things like an off-campus experience, work experience, or connecting to some of our skilled trades. It could also be an opportunity for students to work ahead and do a high school course in advance or to redo a course,” he said.
“Postsecondary requirements to get into many programs are pretty tough now, and sometimes students just need an opportunity to redo a course to bring their mark up a bit to help their postsecondary entrance opportunities.”
When Weipert spoke with LWC, he said the CBE had an additional thousand students registering for summer programs compared to last year. Final summer school enrolment numbers for both the CBE and CCSD will be available later this month.
Over the last number of years, Weipert said, the main logistical challenge of summer school has been finding teachers, not students.
“When we’re looking at 11,000 students taking a variety of courses, that’s a lot of teachers that we have to find who are wanting to work during the summer,” he told LWC, adding that communication is sent to all CBE teachers around February and March each year to gauge summer teaching interest.
“We do have some expectations that they’ve taught the course that they’re wanting to teach in the summer fairly recently, so it’s fresh in their minds.”
Summer school is just as beneficial to teachers as it is to students: Experts
Hamilton said that for those who don’t already have summer commitments, including traveling or children, among others, teaching during the summer can essentially be a better-weather version of regular teaching.
“It also works for individuals who are interested in a little bit of a pay bump, because they get paid extra for it and might not have some of those other commitments. I have a number of folks that I know who have taught summer school, and maybe they just had the time to do that,” she said.
“Some people think, ‘If I teach summer school in July. I’m gonna take that money, and I’m gonna do something fabulous for the first three weeks in August,’ so there’s that bit of a trade off.”
Teaching summer school is not for everybody, Hamilton said, with many teachers just needing a well-deserved break.
“It’s really a personal choice,” she said.
When asked, Hamilton could not say if the 2025-26 school year’s course disruption may have an impact on either a teacher’s decision to teach in the summer or a student’s decision to retake a course.
Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) President Jason Schilling said that it’s highly possible that some teachers decide to teach this summer to recoup some lost funds.
“Teachers are exhausted from this year and constantly trying to meet the needs of students in classes that are overcrowded and without resources, so they also need to take a break, but it’s going to be up to the individual teacher for what they want to do,” he said.
“Statistically, it’ll be interesting to see if there is an uptake in terms of the number of teachers who want to teach summer school, but it also depends on the board as well, because I know that boards will sometimes use summer school as a way to generate credits, because boards get funding for the number of credits that they generate.”
In a statement, Alberta’s Ministry of Education and Childcare said that they are pleased to support students furthering their education during the summer.
“We provide funding to school boards to offer summer school courses for their students. As outlined in our Funding Manual for School Authorities, summer school funding is provided for up to 10 credits per student for summer high school courses,” the statement reads.
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