Task Force for Teaching Excellence; Where is the Student?

By now, a week after it's release, if you teach in Alberta, you have heard about the Task Force for Teaching Excellence. If you heard the task force was headed by a 'blue ribbon' panel, you have heard the ministry's take on it. If you have heard that teachers were not included, you have heard the Alberta Teachers' Association's take. Not surprisingly, this has quickly turned into a political battle. And there is plenty of fodder in the report to continue the conflict.

As a critical thinker myself, I have taken on the task of reading the entire report. I think every teacher, student, parent, and Albertan should read this for him or herself. But I warn you, it is daunting. Frustrated by the repetitiveness of the summaries of summaries, the vague references implying content that will be presented later on, I have taken a break to write this post. Truthfully, if a student submitted this report as an assignment, I would focus a mini-lesson on conciseness and clarity. I can't help but think the authors intended to lose their audience before they offered the evidence for their findings. But I will return to it.

I want to point out the mistakes the Minister of Education made in this whole process. Before we get into that, take a look at this word cloud I created using the words of the report. For those of you who don't know, a word cloud (this one made on the Wordle.net site) increases word size based on the repeated occurrence of that word. The bigger the word, the more often it appears in the document.

First and foremost, the minister built anticipation by keeping the findings a secret. Teachers were uncertain of what was coming, although many predictions proved sadly true. The mistake was in not being transparent - the very thing the task force suggests for investigations of misconduct of teachers - and in keeping things behind the curtain, he allowed imaginations to reign. That set a tone of uneasiness, a sense of foreboding. The foreshadowing created an expectation of bad news.

Once the report was revealed, it came across as a report card. Any seasoned teacher will tell you what is needed in the reporting process in order to improve a student's progress. Those teachers can easily point out that the report failed to deliver:

• Direct consultation with the stakeholders. This report card was compiled by people outside of the situation. 
• A mutual agreement of what is in the best interest of the student to foster a desire to work together to improve the situation. This report reads as an attack. Although our current standing as a world leader in education gets a hat-tip, the real kudos are nonexistent. Add to that the threats that "if these changes cannot be made within the existing model, the Task Force recommends the Minister of Education ..." force the changes, and you have yourself an attack. We are still simmering over the legislated agreement that most of us signed willingly in an effort to avoid legislation. 
• A clear identification of the problems and a plan to address them. This report misses many of the problems in classrooms that interfere with learning. In this, it misses the target of the student, although the student was reportedly the only focus. There is no mention of cultural diversity, varied composition of classes, large class sizes, language barriers, inclusion difficulties, and the lack of mental health supports. The report insinuates the problem is mainly the teachers. The very teachers who are implementing the world-renown education system. The equivalent would be if a teacher stated, "I think the problem lies in parenting" during a parent/teacher interview. 

And now we are entering a heated political situation. The ATA is challenging the minister's competence. The minister is questioning the ATA's ability to regulate its members. Teachers know there is room for improvement in the education system. We want to improve both our teaching practices and the learning environments of students.

Now take another look at that word cloud. See how big the word student or students is? That is our concern, too.