On June 15, 2022, the lieutenant-governor proclaimed several pieces of UCP legislation, including Bill 85, the so-called Students First Amendment Act, a section of which revised the Education Act and activated the online teacher and teacher-leader registry on Sept. 1, 2022.
The politically correct title of this bill notwithstanding, the bill is an affront to the professionalization of teachers and serves to undermine public confidence in teachers. Teachers welcome accountability for their actions to students, the public and the profession, but elements of this bill, which was proclaimed without any consultation whatsoever with Alberta teachers, are an attempt to deprofessionalize teachers and to create an environment of distrust.
The government has created a disciplinary model that puts the adjudication of teacher conduct and competency in the hands of bureaucrats and created a registry that outs teachers’ personal information. These actions reek of vexation toward a profession that this government has held in disdain since its election.
Why be concerned about the registry? The disclosure of personal information, such as birth names and prior names, has no relevance to a question of whether a teacher holds a valid teaching certificate. This registry violates the privacy of teachers who are divorced, transgender, deceased or victims of abuse. It’s also an intrusion on relatives of teachers identified as having had certification issues. All these groups deserve privacy and protection. Women, who comprise the majority of the profession, are particularly targeted, since they more typically change names than other segments of the population.
The government has established a process to request an exemption, which they state will only be offered in rare circumstances. Teachers are rightfully concerned. In response, the Association sought legal advice and requested an investigation by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.
The government has justified the registry’s creation by referring to other professions, such as doctors, lawyers and nurses. A review of these registries reveals limited information and an inability, for example, to determine historical names or search the status of deceased members.
The government has also justified the registry’s creation through the use of political euphemisms, such as transparency and student safety. It’s beyond me how transparency and student safety are enhanced by publishing the status of the teaching certificate of my long-deceased Grade 1 teacher, Mrs. Miller. And it continues to be unsettling to hear of the trauma that some teachers’ relatives have reported at receiving a letter from the government advising them of their deceased loved one’s inclusion in the registry.
Ultimately, creating the registry is a political ploy appealing to a populist agenda that is served by undermining trust in public education and other public institutions whereby a government can control the message and the medium, resulting in a populace that devalues education and engages in divisive rhetoric rather than democratic discourse. Might it not be more useful to publish a registry of those registered private schools that employ uncertificated teachers rather than provide a database of every version of a teacher’s name since 1954?
Teachers who are concerned with the public disclosure of their private information may wish to access the site https://extranet.education.alberta.ca/twins.public/public to request an exemption. Part of the exemption process includes writing a letter explaining the reasons for seeking an exemption. The registrar may consider removing a teacher or teacher leader’s name from the online registry temporarily while an exemption request is being considered.
Ultimately, teachers are concerned about legislation that targets them in an unfair way as well as the motives of the government, which has created protocols that do not achieve the objectives as originally espoused in this legislation. ❚
Co-ordinator, ATA Teacher Employment Services
