This fall we saw two major elections, the federal election on Sept. 20 and Alberta municipal and school board elections on Oct. 18. During the lead-up to the elections, many opportunities existed for direct engagement in the democratic process. Citizens could participate in virtual forums, ask questions and express concerns to individual candidates, review candidate platforms and finally, and most importantly, exercise their right to vote on election day.
With the dust now settled and the results of the elections determined, it is important to remember that democratic engagement is an ongoing endeavour. Participation in elections allows citizens to advocate for the issues they believe are important, but this advocacy work can and does continue long after elections conclude. Engagement in advocacy can occur in many ways: systemically, locally and individually. Not all people can be involved in all levels at once, but there are many ways that individual parents can engage in important conversations about public education.
Systemic advocacy
In Alberta, advocating for public education at the systems level can occur both provincially and locally.
The Alberta government is responsible for funding public education, creating strong regulatory structures to support learning conditions in classrooms, and, in partnership with educational stakeholders, creating curriculum and assessing outcomes. The Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) and the Alberta School Councils’ Association (ASCA) have joined in partnership to advocate for public education because they share the concern that funding cuts, large class sizes and a problematic draft curriculum threaten the future of students and public education.
Parents and grandparents can advocate for their children and grandchildren by visiting the Stand for Education website and signing on to the letter writing campaign. In addition to joining letter writing campaigns, parents can write directly to or call their MLA to express their concerns about public education and advocate for better funding and curriculum for their children.
Local advocacy
Locally, Alberta school boards are responsible for ensuring that, at a policy level, school jurisdictions are serving the needs of students, communicating with the public, (including parents), approving school jurisdiction budgets and setting out local policies for their school jurisdiction.
Parents can advocate their concerns to elected school board trustees by becoming informed about school board meetings or attending those meetings. Parents can also contact trustees to provide feedback on proposed policy, budgets and initiatives being taken on by the school board. It is important to note that there are limitations to what school board trustees can do. Their role is a governance one and primarily focused on policy and financial decision making, not the day-to-day events that your child experiences at school.
At the school level, parents can advocate through their school council to help support and enhance student learning of all students in the school. School councils are collaborative and, while primarily comprised of parents and school leaders, they should include students at the secondary level as well as other community members.
School councils meet throughout the school year to serve as advisors to the principal, the school board and to Alberta Education via their membership in ASCA. Like school board trustees, school councils operate in a policy realm and do not address concerns related to individual students, staff, parents or legal issues. Their most important role is to build a strong school community by providing the principal and trustees with broad, inclusive and diverse parent perspectives on topics like school budget, school priorities, time tables, education plans, programming, extra curricular activities and school or division policies impacting students.
Individual advocacy
Under the regulatory structures set out in Alberta, students, parents, teachers and school principals have obligations to work collaboratively to achieve the aims of education. To achieve these goals, it’s paramount to establish a positive working relationship among students, parents, teachers and school leaders.
Parents and guardians are primary in children’s lives and they know their children the best. Teachers and school leaders are experts in the learning process. Together, parents and teachers can create a powerful team to ensure that children receive the support they need.
However, there are times when parents also advocate for their children, such as when they perceive issues are being experienced by their children in the classroom or school context. In these instances, communicating the issues of concern with your child’s teacher is the first step. To prepare for success, it is helpful to set out a time to discuss the issue, and it is important to recognize that the perspectives of teachers and parents may not always align. It takes careful and thoughtful communication between parents and teachers to identify the issues and propose solutions that may work in a classroom context. In addition, it may be helpful to include the child in these conversations so that they can play a role in problem solving and solution building. If the concern isn’t resolved, or additional support is required, it is important to expand the conversation to include the school administration team, which may recommend specialists or counsellors be added to your child’s learning team.
Importance of advocacy
Parents are powerful advocates for their children, their school communities and public education. It is important to know that as parents, your voice truly matters and that there are multiple avenues for engagement available to help improve public education on many levels.