Education Mandate - Provincial Overeach
- sheilaglebe
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
On Monday, September 22nd, 2025, Alberta’s Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, announced that he had received a new mandate letter from Premier Danielle Smith. In it, Smith directs the minister to focus on “preparing for the future, to continue to support our “world class education system” , to preserve parental rights, strengthen accountability within the education system and to provide affordable childcare in Alberta.
Each goal is certainly worthy, however, the statement is vague and hints that parental rights are not being respected, that school boards aren't accountable and that pathways to the trades are not promoted with students. All of this at a time when the UCP is under fire for book bans, mandates forcing girls, who want to play school sports, to prove they are in fact female, and an ongoing messy negotiation with Alberta’s teaching professionals.
On the one hand, the UCP is leveling attacks on the teaching profession through a targeted media smear campaign, painting teachers as villains who want too much, and suggesting that tax dollars aren't being appropriately handled by school boards. During one of her Alberta Next Panels, Danielle Smith challenged Alberta taxpayers to find out where the money is going.
On the other hand, this new mandate, hints vaguely that parental rights aren’t being respected, that our “world class education system” isn’t being held accountable for student outcomes, and the current curriculum isn’t offering students the education they need to succeed in the workforce.
According the Nicolaides a new apprenticeship program, (presumably to replace the current Registered Apprenticeship Program that has been in place in Alberta since 1991), will be modelled on the “renowned” German Apprenticeship program. Further support for the trades will be supplied through a new career counselling tool aimed at parents and students, Again - this is a program already in existence in Alberta. ALIS ( https://alis.alberta.ca/) is a robust program that has been available to students, their parents and teachers since 1975. In fact, ALIS is a program introduced to grade 9 and 10 students through their Career Life Management studies, which begs the question “why are we pretending that life skills and financial literacy are not being taught in schools?
The narrative developing here, is that Alberta students aren’t being provided opportunities to explore trades. We have Industrial Arts and Foods and Fashion studies in Junior and Senior High, hairdressing, foods and opportunities to being their trades careers through the Registered Apprenticeship Program in high school. All students are introduced to ALIS, an excellent career counselling system already in place. The narrative suggests that trades aren’t being promoted - they are - but so are academics, fine arts, university and college degrees, and technical programs, because every student has the right to learn the paths to success that are available to them, that’s how we ensure that our future generation thrives, and that is best done at the local school and school district level in keeping with the mandate of education to meet the needs of all students within their community.
The promise expand mental health supports and improve services for students with complex needs is indeed welcome! Teachers, parents and school districts have been sounding the alarm on these issues for at least a decade. Why not put the funding in the hands of the local school board and allow them, along with local education stakeholders, to determine where the money is best spent?
Affordable child care in Alberta is something this mandate plans to address. Of course this needs to be address, but it's been on the table since 2021, when the Trudeau government announced the 10 dollar a day child care program. We're four years behind making this happen, far behind most other provinces in Canada.
Finally, this mandate proposes a universal code of conduct for School Board officials to “uphold free speech and accountability is perplexing. All boards follow a code of conduct. One of their roles is to hold the province accountable by translating local community and student needs into advocacy, lobbying provincial governments on education issues, and ensuring that provincial policies are implemented effectively at the local level. Through public consultations, setting local priorities, and transparent reporting on their own performance, boards act as a local voice, mediate between provincial standards and local realities, and provide oversight on the quality of education and fiscal management within their jurisdiction. How can school boards act autonomously and in the best interests of their community if the province is dictating how they communicate with their local community? The UCP needs to take a step back, admit the need for more funding and leave it in the hands of local education stakeholders to make the choices that best meet the needs of their community.
Sheila Glebe BEd MEd
St. Albert School Board Trustee Candidate
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