A survey of 5,700 Alberta teachers and school leaders suggests a vast majority of them feel overwhelmed and unsafe in overcrowded classrooms, at times, while being “disrespected” by a province that overrode their Charter rights in a recent labour dispute.
“Across Alberta, teachers and school leaders have spoken,” Jason Schilling, the head of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, told reporters Wednesday after releasing the survey results.
“They have sounded the alarm that our public schools are in a crisis, that our classrooms are facing severe levels of complexity — the same conditions this government has repeatedly promised to address, yet year after year have failed to materialize concrete solutions.”
The ATA survey of its members suggests well over 90 per cent of respondents feel stressed on the job and pessimistic about the future of the profession in the province.
“(The) comments describe widespread moral distress, burnout and despair,” said the survey summary.
“Many teachers described rising safety concerns, with escalating student aggression, violence and dysregulation now much more common in Alberta classrooms.”
The online survey was conducted in November and December, after Premier Danielle Smith’s government passed legislation to end a provincewide strike by 51,000 teachers while invoking the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield it from legal challenge.
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The report said most respondents felt that the notwithstanding decision has led to a “detrimental” effect on their work.
“This extraordinary legislative measure, effectively curtailing bargaining rights, left many feeling disempowered and disrespected,” said the report.
One survey respondent said, “Using the notwithstanding clause has essentially taken the air out of the room. I’ve never felt more unappreciated, invalidated and dejected.”
Another said, “Everyone seems especially depleted since the strike and the devastating results.”
Other teacher comments ranged from concerns over classroom supports to personal safety.
One said, “I’ve never been screamed at, hit or bit by a student until last year.”
Another wrote, “I am burned out. I come home and want to sleep or cry. I don’t have it in me anymore.”
Another teacher wrote, “I teach Science 20 and 30 at the same time … plus multiple other core courses. I am now on medical leave — it was too much.”
“I spend my lunch break prepping or meeting students,” said one teacher. “I never leave my classroom. I have never worked harder in my life.”
Another survey respondent said teachers are tasked with helping “kids who’ve never held a pencil or crayon before coming to school, kids who’ve never used scissors (and) kids who can’t sit on the floor without flopping over.”
The report also details teacher concerns on a lack of learning materials, specialist services such as speech therapy and educational assistants.
“Many schools began the year under-resourced, facing unfilled teaching and support positions, high student needs and morale challenges,” said the report.
The reports also cites other recent controversial government policies, including a ban on school library books deemed to have inappropriate sexual content. It also says that new pronoun and gender laws have negatively affected “school climate and trust.”
One law requires children under 16 to have parental consent to change their names or pronouns at school. The other requires students to confirm their gender at birth before they can participate in female amateur sports.
“Together, these policy changes are seen as top-down pressures that ignore the input of teachers, diminishing their professional autonomy, creating additional work, or even conflicting with their fundamental professional values,” the report says.
Smith’s government has said it has fully taken the teachers’ concerns onboard and are working directly with them to hire more teachers and solve problems of classroom complexities.
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