LAKELAND – A new online registry launched on Sept. 1, allowing Albertans to find information about teachers and teacher leaders. The registry dates back to 1954, and will publish information such as a teacher’s name, the type of certificate they hold and its validity.
Disciplinary decisions resulting to the suspension or cancellation of a teacher’s certificate dating back to 1990 will also be published.
Peter Barron, superintendent of St. Paul Education, said he supports the idea of making sure students are safe and teachers are accountable for their behavior, providing assurance to communities.
“I agree with the idea of accountability and a registry that publishes information about teachers in terms of their status, that they do have a license to teach and if there have been issues historically,” said Barron. “I think it’s part of the public’s right to know – and some of this information we see in other professions as well.”
In an Aug. 30 media release, the Government of Alberta stated that an online registry aligns with the practices of other provinces like British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, where similar information on the status of teaching certificates and disciplinary matters is published. The registry is also similar to registries of other professions in the province, including nurses, doctors, lawyers, and engineers.
According to the provincial government, the registry will increase public confidence in the teaching profession due to the increased transparency and accountability, while protecting the privacy of students, colleagues, or any individuals who may be involved with a situation of disciplined individuals.
“The vast majority of our teaching profession upholds the high standards we all have for those entrusted with our children each day,” stated Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Education, in the news release. “We will balance individual teachers’ rights to privacy and procedural fairness with the public’s right to know when a teacher has been disciplined, resulting in a teaching certificate being suspended or cancelled.”
The registry will have information on about 162,000 current and former teachers and teacher leaders upon launch. Exemption requests are provided, in accordance with the Education Act, on a case-by-case basis.
The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) has published information for teachers, answering questions that some in the teaching profession may have, last updated on July 22. The ATA states that it doesn’t believe the registry is needed in Alberta because a teacher employed by a school division must already show proof of a valid certificate in order to be employed as a teacher.
“The bottom line, then, is that the fact that a teacher is in the classroom or working in some other teaching capacity is, in itself, proof that their certification status has been confirmed,” according to information available on the ATA’s website.
One concern expressed by the ATA is that the scope of the registry could potentially expand.
The website states that “while the information currently expected to be provided on the government registry site is, for most teachers, fairly innocuous, there is a distinct possibility that, as time goes by, the registry’s purpose and the scope of the information it includes might expand.”
Another concern the ATA holds is privacy. “The Association is particularly concerned about the privacy implications of the registry, particularly with respect to individuals seeking exemption,” according to the ATA.
Jason Schilling, president of the ATA, said the government did not consult with the ATA about the registry’s creation. He said among the concerns by teachers involve information of former teachers included in the registry.
“Some people who have loved ones who used to be teachers that may have passed away – their names are included in the registry without any real justification as to why, and there’s some concerns about that,” said Schilling. He also said there are other, more critical issues of concern in education, such as curriculum, class size, support for students and teachers, and classroom needs.
“There are a lot of issues that are active right now in education, but we’re spending the first week of school talking about a database that nobody asked for,” said Schilling. “So, I sometimes think it’s a bit of a distraction put forward by the government to avoid real issues that we need to talk about.”
