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Alberta’s new draft K-6 social studies curriculum is “profoundly disappointing” and continues to lack diverse and age appropriate content, according to experts.

The province unveiled the draft social studies curriculum on March 14. At a press conference that same day, EEducation Minister Demetrios Nicolaides assured Albertans that there were consultations with partners and members of the public. While the ministry was transparent with the list of curriculum specialists, some who were part of the process were disappointed by the draft outcome.

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Yvonne Poitras Pratt, an associate professor of education at the University of Calgary, was part of both the 2021 and 2023 group of curriculum specialists. She said while this time around there was a slight improvement in the consultation process, in that it seemed more collaborative, suggestions to change the framework of the curriculum were not considered.

“I think it’s a really interesting trajectory of another failed attempt,” Poitras Pratt said.

“We provided a lot of feedback in terms of what we felt would really bring the curriculum into a new vision, very different to what they’ve done in the past. Our suggestions for changing the architecture of the K-6 draft social studies curriculum were not considered. Instead, they went back to their original framework. It did not allow for the room and the expansion that the social studies curriculum requires in order to meet the diverse needs of a rapidly changing world.”

In 2021, the first drafts of the K-6 curriculum were released slammed for being age-inappropriate and lacking necessary Indigenous perspectives.

In an emailed statement to Postmedia, Nicolaides said more than 300 partners and organizations were engaged and provided feedback for the curriculum. He said a second round of public engagement is open until April 2, during which people can provide feedback on the draft curriculum.

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“I believe that the valuable contributions will help ensure Alberta students learn from a curriculum that builds their critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills, and empowers them to be engaged citizens,” Nicolaides said.

Poitras Pratt, who is also a Métis scholar, said her goal when consulting on the draft curriculum was to deepen understanding on Indigenous history to include more in-depth looks into the colonial impacts on the Indigenous population, but was disappointed to see that her suggestions were not taken.

“One of my first criticisms when we encountered the first draft that they shared with us, there was not one mention of colonial anything. As we look at our nation state, at all the different societal issues that have erupted, for example the discovery of the mass graves of Indigenous children and the many that have been unearthed since then — it reminds us that this work, you can’t not teach it,” she said.

“People want to know what happened in Canada’s past to allow for these atrocities. To eradicate those topics from the curriculum or to cloak them with marginal mentions of Indigenous reality starting millennia ago, it does a really huge disservice to students as well as teachers, and we’re not going to achieve the truth and reconciliation.”

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She said the curriculum does not have “a true line” that runs through the material so teachers can work to build students’ understanding and critical awareness of social studies. Poitras Pratt said at a time when students’ anxiety is at an all-time high, course material needs to deviate away from memorization and engage with students in a critical way.

Carla Peck, a professor of social studies education at the University of Alberta, called the draft curriculum “profoundly disappointed” and said it lacked age and development appropriateness. Peck said some of the topics students are being asked to learn, such as taxes or the Supreme Court, are beyond the capacities of students in the suggested grades.

Peck said the curriculum is still rooted in memorization, which is similar to the 2021 draft. While some content has been reduced and there’s been more attention added to Indigenous studies in some grades, it remains inconsistent in terms of mentioning colonization without discussing the impacts on Indigenous peoples.

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“I would say the bad far outweighs the good in this case again,” Peck said.

Amanda Chapman, Alberta NDP critic for education and services to children with disabilities, said she was concerned about the timeline for the curriculum and said 2025 was a “very quick turnaround,” on top of the lack of meaningful consultation when it comes to the curriculum .

“It feels like a missed opportunity. One of the most disappointing things, too, is that the UCP says that they have done a lot of consultation on the curriculum. But if you’re not taking the advice of your experts, the consultation isn’t meaningful. That’s a huge concern for me,” Chapman said.

ctran@postmedia.com

X: @kccindytran

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