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Local school board announces it won’t pilot new curriculum

Apr 7, 2021 | 3:48 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB -The Medicine Hat Public School Division has announced it will not participate in piloting the new Alberta Curriculum in the fall of 2021.

The division says it does “not support the curriculum as presented, as it would set back Alberta’s world-class education system in a manner damaging to the learning and wellbeing of our students.”

It does plan on working with Alberta Education to support its review of the curriculum. The division plans to conduct a “robust examination” of the curriculum by engaging with staff and members of the community.

The division is calling on the province to engage with Alberta teachers in the process of developing a research-supported, professional curriculum.

MHPSD Superintendent Mark Davidson says their concern is the curriculum is “inappropriately placed in terms of developmental stages”.

“The placement of outcomes that are developmentally inappropriate, makes it challenging for a school system to function well and to ensure that learners are properly engaged. We struggle as well with the notion that we will shift so much of our system towards rote learning and memorization and away from supporting students in higher-level thought. That does not mean we don’t support a balance within the curriculum, there is certainly a place for both,” Davidson said.