For years, Pitfalls and Precautions articles were a staple in the ATA News. These articles gave a glimpse into discipline cases that Alberta Teachers’ Association staff had investigated to help teachers be more aware of common pitfalls to avoid in their own practice. When the government passed Bill 15, the Education (Reforming Teacher Profession Discipline) Amendment Act, on May 31, 2022, the ATA was stripped of its regulatory function and the Alberta Teaching Profession Commission (ATPC) was created to oversee teacher conduct and competency for all Alberta teaching certificate holders. One byproduct of adapting to the new legislative reality was that these articles stopped being produced for and shared with our members.
In response to the implementation of Bill 15, delegates at the 2023 Annual Representative Assembly passed a resolution that would see the ATA now represent members who faced allegations of unprofessional conduct and/or professional incompetence. A new subunit of the Government program area called Regulatory Affairs was then formed. While this subunit represents members, it is important to distinguish representation in regulatory matters (complaints filed with the ATPC) from the representation provided by our colleagues in Teaching Employment Services, whose representation efforts focus on teacher employment issues.
Since the subunit was formed, the Regulatory Affairs team has represented more than 450 teachers under investigation with the ATPC and has begun to recognize many common themes and learnings from these cases. We see how it would be beneficial to share these insights with our members across the province, so the decision was made to revive Pitfalls and Precautions.
Starting this fall, the Regulatory Affairs team will be writing a series of articles for the ATA News. The purpose of these articles is not to share salacious content or to expose colleagues for bad behaviour. Rather the intent is to provide insights into what type of conduct or action could lead to a complaint of unprofessional conduct and share some best practices to avoid receiving such complaints in the first place. Many of the articles will include elements of actual cases. However, as before, any anecdotes will be anonymized, and key details will be changed to protect the identity of the teacher involved.
As always, if you happen to receive a notice of complaint from the ATPC, please contact Regulatory Affairs at the ATA as soon as possible by calling 780-447-9460 or emailing professionaldiscipline@ata.ab.ca.
Should your school and/or division have any interest in learning more about the ATPC processes and Code of Conduct requirements, requests for presentations may also be directed to professionaldiscipline@ata.ab.ca. ❚
Learn more about the professional discipline process for teachers and schools leaders, as well as supports you can access, at teachers.ab.ca/advocacy/conduct-and-competence.
Associate Coordinator, Regulatory Affairs
