Poor communication. Long waits. High investigator turnover. These are some of the many challenges stemming from the transition of the profession’s regulatory function to the Government of Alberta.
On January 1, 2023, the province assumed responsibility for teacher discipline for all Alberta-certificated teachers. While this move was touted as a way to ensure proper, timely discipline of teachers, it was a political move designed to address a problem that did not exist. The ATA had overseen discipline for its members for decades and was considered by many as an exemplary regulator, operating in line with regulatory standards adhered to by regulators across Canada.
The government’s new process has had many challenges due to ill-conceived legislation and structural issues with the new area responsible for receiving, investigating and prosecuting cases. High staff turnover at the Alberta Teaching Profession Commission (ATPC), along with poor communication, has created excessively long timelines for cases to work through the process. The ATA’s Regulatory Affairs unit supports and represents teachers who find themselves subject to ATPC complaints and the resulting protracted processes.
In the past year, the ATA’s active representation numbers have remained constant. At this time one year ago, the Regulatory Affairs unit had 224 active representations. At the time of writing this article, there are 205 active representations. While 91 cases were closed over the past year, staff have represented or are currently representing 497 teachers since the beginning of the government’s new process in 2023.
In the past 12 months, Regulatory Affairs has assisted members in 11 dispute resolution processes, 21 disciplinary hearings, 3 disciplinary hearing appeals, 14 complainant appeal hearings and more than 200 investigations. These figures include both matters successfully closed over the year and files that remain active.
Recently, more cases have been disposed of at the preliminary inquiry phase, meaning that more consideration of cases has occurred at the front end of the process, thus avoiding a needless investigation. However, far too many frivolous cases have been forwarded to investigation that would have been dealt with more appropriately via one of the nondisciplinary measures available to the commissioner at the front end of the process.
One example of a front-end process that is underutilized is mediation, a strong regulatory tool that could drastically reduce caseloads and help to ameliorate disputes between two parties. In the last 12 months, none of the members who requested representation from Regulatory Affairs were sent to mediation. This seems to signal that mediation has been taken off the table, leading to some cases proceeding to an investigation needlessly.
When the commissioner orders an investigation, members can expect to wait months, if not years, for an investigator to contact them for an interview. These timelines cause undue stress for our members and serve to delegitimize the government’s process. These delays harm both members under investigation and complainants alike, and result in complex employment issues for our members as they live with complaints hanging over their heads.
Dispute resolution processes are nondisciplinary in nature; they typically run effectively in a timely manner and conclude matters in positive, constructive ways. However, hearing processes have proven to be very frustrating for members. Delays, prosecutorial overreach and poor timelines on behalf of the commissioner and ATPC legal counsel have resulted in hearings that are more complex, adversarial and lengthy than members might expect. Even so, Regulatory Affairs officers have had a great deal of success negotiating appropriate sanctions when warranted and have engaged in fully contested hearings when the matter at hand has required a positive result for the individual teacher that will serve as an important precedent for ATA members.
Members who have been supported by Regulatory Affairs staff report significant negative impacts in connection with the ATPC processes. Nearly all respondents to an exit survey (98 per cent) indicated that the government’s disciplinary process has negatively impacted their physical and/or mental health. More than half (57 per cent) stated that the complaint negatively impacted their career path, and more than three-quarters (84 per cent) indicated that having a complaint and going through the government’s process have negatively impacted their feelings toward the teaching profession.
Unfortunately, most members with lived experience in the government’s disciplinary system this past year expressed concerns with teacher regulation in Alberta. These concerns are being shared as the Regulatory Affairs unit works to ensure fair representation and timely due process for members.
The ATA believes that high-quality professional regulation is a cornerstone of all professions and will continue to advocate for sound processes to ensure members are treated fairly even as the profession is upheld.
