Alberta government will appoint 'action team' to address classroom aggression

Alberta's education minister will be assembling a group of superintendents, teachers and school trustees to study how to best tackle what the government says is a rising incidence of aggression in classrooms.

Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides announced an "aggression and complexity in schools action team" in Calgary on Monday, promising to consider some of the team's recommendations by fall.

"Alberta's government believes that every student and every staff member deserves to feel safe, respected and supported at school, and we're taking concrete steps here today to make sure that that happens," Nicolaides said.

The panel comes as Alberta's 51,000 public, Catholic and francophone school teachers belonging to the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) are in a legal strike position after voting 95 per cent in favour of job action.

Among the top concerns are classroom conditions, including what they say are growing class sizes with more students who have labour-intensive or specialized needs. The complexities include a growing proportion of English-language learners, children with intellectual, behavioural or physical disabilities, and mental health challenges.

"We recognize that this is a serious and growing issue, and that is why we are taking action today, immediately and in the long term, to ensure that every student and staff member has the supports that they need to thrive," Nicolaides said.

The government is still finalizing a list of 20 team members, and their names will be publicly posted later. They will include school trustees from Edmonton and Calgary, ATA representatives, and the College of Alberta School Superintendents. The group's timeline for work will be six months.

Nicolaides expects the team to submit to him a report with recommendations by fall 2025.

Province wants 'practical' solutions

However, the minister told reporters he doesn't have billions of extra dollars to invest in the system, and would not commit to acting upon costly solutions.

"We really want to focus on what's really practical, what's really achievable," Nicolaides said.

He said data gathering would be a part of the team's work, to get a better understanding of how often students act aggressively. He would not commit to restoring the collection of class-size data, which the UCP government eliminated in 2019.

Speaking at the announcement, Alberta School Boards Association president Marilyn Dennis said her board, the Calgary Board of Education, has leaders and programs in place to address complex needs. The board needs more resources to roll them out to students, she said.

ATA president Jason Schilling says he's pleased to see the government acting upon teachers' concerns about class complexity and violence. But he is concerned about the short timeline to find potential solutions.

"Teachers are struggling to meet the needs of their students day in and day out," Schilling said.
"We are seeing members leave the profession altogether."

He said teachers know what they need to better meet student needs, and declining public funding granted per student is a major problem.

Members who have experienced violence or aggression on the job say they need more teachers in schools, smaller class sizes, and mental health support for students with behavioural challenges, Schilling said.

Failing to track class sizes will leave the government without a full picture of the challenges, he said.

Advocate concerned about segregation

The action team will also seek input from Inclusion Alberta, an organization that represents families of children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

CEO Trish Bowman said in an interview Monday these students face barriers to accessing full-time classes with the general student population. Staffing shortages sometimes prompt schools to tell parents to keep their students home for part or all of a school day, she said.

The government will have to go beyond boosting funds to hire more educational assistants, Bowman said. Success depends on leaders who get kids access to the right professionals, teachers having training and resources to help students with challenges, and having the time to understand and use those resources.

"I'm not sure what can be more important than children and education and making sure that all children have access to a high-quality education," she said.

Bowman worries the action team exercise will lead to more segregation of disabled students in specialized classrooms rather than shared classrooms with their more typical peers. She said research does not support this approach.

"It's a concern for us that without access to the right training and resources, that the default answer becomes removing kids from the classroom and then, potentially, disciplinary practices that can be really harmful, like seclusion and restraint," she said.

Premier Danielle Smith said last weekend on her Your Province, Your Premier radio show that some teachers rejected a contract offer from government because they do not feel safe on the job.

Smith questioned whether there are places where integration of students with disabilities doesn't work.

"We've gone down the path of inclusion for a very long time. I think most students can be included, but maybe some can't," Smith said.

When asked about Smith's comments, Nicolaides said he doesn't want to presuppose the recommendations of the team.