Teachers’ conventions

Convention attendance is mandatory for all active ATA members.

You can apply to be released from convention if your situation involves any of the following:

• Collective agreement provisions (including leaves)
• An alternate PD event scheduled during your assigned convention time
• Coaching a provincial finals competition organized by the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association

Please check the convention attendance page for more information.

If you have worked as a substitute teacher in a public, separate or francophone school during the current school year, you are automatically an active member of the ATA and can attend convention. Please note that most locals don’t pay substitute teachers to attend convention. Check your collective agreement for more information.

Unless your collective agreement or employment contract says otherwise, you only need to attend your assigned convention on the days and times you would be expected to work during a typical school week.

If you have chosen to remain an active ATA member, convention attendance is mandatory.

If you are an associate member of the ATA, you can register as a guest delegate (see below).

If you are an associate member, you can register as a guest.

If you’re a pre-service teacher attending an Alberta university or college that serves as a convention venue, or if you’re registered in your final year of a bachelor of education program, you can attend convention free of charge if you’ve purchased a membership in your ATA student local. Contact your student local for more information.

If you’re pursuing graduate studies part-time while teaching part-time, you only need to attend convention on your regular teaching days.

If you’ve taken a negotiated leave provision to pursue graduate studies, you do not need to attend convention.

If you’re an education graduate student not employed by a public, separate or francophone school board, you can attend convention as a guest delegate if you are an associate ATA member. You will need to pay the convention’s guest registration fee.

You can attend convention as an out-of-province delegate if you can provide proof of membership in your local teachers’ organization. You will need to pay the required registration fee to the convention you wish to attend.

If you are an exchange teacher, you can attend convention as a guest delegate at no cost. Please call 1‑800-232-7208 and ask to speak to the Professional Development duty officer for more information.

Each of the ATA’s nine convention associations is governed by a volunteer board, which builds its own program and exhibits area independently. We have provided general information here, but please contact the convention association directly for specific information about presenting or purchasing display space.

Convention program sessions should

• be clearly linked to one or more competencies in the Teaching Quality Standard (TQS) and/or Leadership Quality Standard (LQS) or the ATA’s mandated objectives, strategic directions and priorities;
• reinforce the honour and dignity of the teaching profession; and
• model the importance of high-quality, teacher-directed professional development.

Keynote presenter or speaker’s bureau rep 

Please contact individual convention associations directly. 

Teachers who want to deliver a session

Presenting sessions at a convention can be an excellent professional development experience for teachers! Attendees value presentations delivered by fellow colleagues. 

How to apply to present at a convention

Each convention board opens a call for presentations and sets deadlines at different times of the year, so check each convention website for details. 

General timelines for breakout sessions

The opportunity to reach more than 40,000 teachers at conventions and to sell teacher resources or products has proven to be popular for a wide variety of businesses. The majority of convention exhibits should be education related and demonstrably linked to the Teaching Quality Standard and Leadership Quality Standard, but some exhibit space may be available for commercial vendors.

Each convention board opens a call for exhibitor proposals and sets deadlines at different times of the year, so checking each convention website for details is recommended. 

General timelines for exhibitor proposals