You will often hear political pundits refer to governments “flooding the zone,” which is a strategy used to overwhelm and distract opponents from undesirable reports by generating a large amount of attention-grabbing content. Albertans and teachers are no strangers to this technique. Let’s use Bill 25, An Act to Remove Politics and Ideology from Classrooms and Amend the Education Act as an example. When the media and others are busy talking about flag displays, naming of schools and teacher neutrality (all important issues), focus is taken away from the real challenges facing public education and the improvements needed for teachers and students to thrive in an increasingly strained system.
Throughout the debate on such bills in the legislature, media outlets and reporters will reach out to the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) for its thoughts on the topic of the day. In my role as president, I am also the official spokesperson for the ATA, and when I’m asked to speak on a topic, the first place I look is the ATA’s policy.
We are inherently a policy-driven association. Our members decide our policy at our Annual Representative Assembly, held every May long weekend. Resolutions are put forward by Provincial Executive Council and by locals, and are debated, amended and, if approved, adopted as policy. That policy reflects our collective values and beliefs and urges government and school boards to act to strengthen public education. Now, do they always meet our requests? No, and that then becomes the focus of our advocacy work.
One thing I witnessed before, during and especially after the strike is a lot of misinformation being spread about the ATA itself—specifically our governance, our policy and our budget processes. Though I find this inherently disappointing, it is not entirely surprising given the heightened awareness of the ATA during our job action and the passing of Bill 2, the Back to School Act.
More concerning, however, is the rise of social media posts that are intentionally false, often aimed at discrediting the ATA, members of PEC or ATA staff, or the profession as a whole. Many of these posts or memes use qualifying language like “allegedly” or “I heard from someone on the inside.” Regardless of the disclaimer, the information is still false, and these untruths undermine the collective interests of us all.
Our members have access to information about the ATA, its policies and processes on our website; through school representatives, locals and other subgroups; and through the ATA itself. If ever you have questions, I encourage you to do what we always tell our students: ask.
ATA President