Survey Open until Oct. 16, 2023

In a letter to parents/guardians, Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides has announced that Alberta Education will gather information and feedback to aid in drafting the K-6 Social Studies curriculum.

Letter from the Minister of Education

September 18, 2023

Letter to parents – Resuming engagement on draft Social Studies curriculum

Dear Alberta parents and guardians:

Alberta’s government heard clearly from Albertans that the province needs a strengthened approach for developing and engaging on curriculum, particularly Social Studies. I am pleased to share that we are returning to Albertans with an open, transparent and collaborative engagement process that reflects what we have heard.

Feedback received from Albertans and education partners during previous engagement on draft K-6 Social Studies curriculum indicated common areas for improvement, including volume of content and learning progression, developmental appropriateness, pluralism, diversity and inclusion, local and Alberta context, current events and First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives.

Using Albertans’ valuable feedback, Alberta Education will be re-drafting the K-6 Social Studies curriculum to ensure content builds students’ critical thinking and communication skills, enhances Indigenous and francophone perspectives and is age and developmentally appropriate. To inform the re-drafting process, the ministry is resuming engagement with Albertans, through a comprehensive and phased approach.

Phase one – Preliminary engagement

As part of the first engagement phase, we are gathering information about what Albertans, including parents, would like students to learn in Alberta’s Social Studies curriculum through a survey and discussion guide on Alberta.ca.

We have provided a discussion guide that can be used as a tool to facilitate conversations within your community and to help you organize your feedback before completing the survey. The survey will remain open until October 16, 2023, and I encourage you to share it within your networks.

Phase two – Targeted engagement

Starting this fall, Alberta Education will meet with diverse education partners, teachers, multicultural organizations, Indigenous and francophone communities and other education specialists to inform development of the scope and sequence of K-12 Social Studies curriculum and content of draft K-6 Social Studies curriculum.

Feedback from phase one and two of the engagement process will be used to inform the draft K-6 Social Studies curriculum before it is released for further engagement in phase three.

Phase three – Public engagement

In winter 2024, Albertans, including parents, will have the opportunity to provide feedback on key learnings within K-12 Social Studies curriculum and view the draft K-6 Social Studies curriculum to provide additional feedback. I look forward to sharing more information in early 2024 about how you can participate in this process.

Collaborating with education partners and Albertans at each stage of the engagement process will ensure their valuable knowledge and perspectives are considered at the right time. This targeted approach will allow government to hear from a diverse range of stakeholders and to leverage their areas of expertise and responsibilities for curriculum development and implementation.

Once again, I encourage everyone to visit Alberta.ca to view the discussion guide and complete the survey by October 16, 2023.

Parents have an important role to play in curriculum development, along with diverse education partners, teachers, multicultural organizations, Indigenous and francophone communities, and other education specialists. I am confident that together, we will build an inclusive, diverse and comprehensive curriculum that sets up our students for lifelong learning and success.

Best,

Demetrios Nicolaides ECA PhD
Minister of Education

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