Alberta Teachers Association releases poll on Bill 15 changes

A group of Alberta teachers passed a motion of non-confidence in the province's re-entry plan for resuming classes this September. The teacher's association will meet with the education minister Wednesday.

Just a small number of Albertans believe teachers don't have the ability to handle disciplinary matters, suggests a new poll released by the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) on Wednesday.

The opinion poll, which was conducted on a group of 800 adult Albertans and 825 ATA members between Jan. 27 and Feb. 17, found that 13 per cent of respondents were in favour of the UCP government's plan to take over the process of disciplining teachers.

Alberta's Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced in December 2021 that the provincial government would be taking steps to change the disciplinary process for teachers following the revelation that the ATA was aware of the inappropriate conduct of a Calgary teacher well before he was criminally charged.

Those modifications under the UCP government's Bill 15 include a rule to force the agency to notify the province immediately whenever there are complaints about a particular teacher and construct a new disciplinary process.

Jason Schilling, the president of the ATA, says the recent poll shows there is little support for the plan and little faith that the government will "uphold standards for the teaching profession."

"The discipline process under the changes to Bill 15 will be highly susceptible to political interference and this polling shows that Albertans don't trust (Minister LaGrange) with the power that she is giving herself," said Schilling in a media conference on Wednesday.

Schilling also defended the ATA's disciplinary process, saying it is duty-bound to investigate every complaint that is brought to its attention.

"The ATA has a solid track record of appropriately dealing with complaints and abuse," he said.

"To say that the issues were never dealt with or disciplined is a lie."

He also took issue with the UCP government's contention that it was a conflict of interest for the ATA to be the sole arbiter in disciplinary hearings while also being in charge of defending them.

"The defendant is responsible for their own defence. The ATA acts as the prosecutor in the benefit of the public good and does not represent teachers in this process," Schilling said.

He added if the provincial government wants Albertans to believe them about Bill 15, they need to stop lying and "sell it on its merits."

"They're ignoring the concerns of teachers and parents and that is what was indicated by this polling that was done and it's time for the government to refocus."

'BEST INTERESTS OF STUDENTS'

Despite what the ATA's poll suggested, the Alberta government is standing by the amendments to Bill 15, saying it aims to protect students, teachers and the fundamentals of the teaching profession.

"Our priority is the best interests of students, their families, and teachers across the education system, and the public at the centre of the teacher discipline process," said Katherine Stavropoulos, press secretary for Education Minister Adriana LaGrange. "Alberta is an outlier when compared with other jurisdictions and regulated professions, such as nurses. We are eliminating the conflict of interest where a union could advocate for its members while also overseeing disciplinary matters.

"This is not a new approach from the ATA in politicising the issues when the focus should be on our students' safety."

Stavropoulos said the sample size taken for the survey was "hardly representative" of the total number of teachers working in Alberta.

"It should also be noted that this poll ended on February 17, a full month and a half before Bill 15 was even tabled in the assembly, on March 31."

The ATA's poll was conducted by Environics Research and had a margin of error +/- 3.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Debate on the amendments to Bill 15 is still underway and developments are expected to take place in the coming weeks.