Alberta teachers’ strike raises questions

By Amanda Jeffery, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Drayton Valley and District Free Press

With 51,000 teachers on strike across the province, more than 700,000 students are getting an unexpected vacation, and some parents are worried about childcare for the duration of the strike.

The strike, which started on October 6, is the largest strike in Alberta’s history. At the time, the 2002 teachers’ strike was considered a historical precedent when 22,000 teachers walked off the job. The 2025 strike more than doubles that amount.

The Province has stepped up to offer support to parents who could struggle with childcare. Families with children 12 or under are eligible for $30 a day for the duration of the strike, but it’s not a perfect solution. The first installment is set to go out on October 31 and continue on a monthly basis thereafter. In the meantime, families will have to pay for childcare up front.

Elvera Thomson, a working mother of two, says that while there are challenges she will have to face, she is supportive of the teachers’ cause.

“At the end of the day, I think, sure it’s impacting us as a family, and it’s impacting the kids, but I know that what the teachers are asking for will ultimately make my kids’ education better,” says Thomson.

Though Thomson has had to do some quick thinking about the situation, she says she is fortunate enough to have family in the area that can help her out. She’s also found local camps that have opened up for the strike so her children have something to do while out of school.

“I have more support than most people, and I really feel for the people that don’t have that at all,” says Thomson.

She says she has two main concerns about the strike.

“As a working mom, I can’t just keep the kids at home,” says Thomson. “I have to find something for them to do and somewhere to be.”

She says activities for kids aren’t as readily available as they are in the summer, so she has been scrambling to put plans into place.

The second is the uncertainty about the length of the strike. She says she’s not sure if she should be figuring out an education plan because the longer they are out of school, the bigger the impact will be.

“If it’s only a week of school, we can come back from that,” says Thomson. “But if it’s two months like we saw during Covid… those kids were really disadvantaged because of how much school they missed.”

The length of teacher strikes can vary. The 2002 teacher strike had schools closed for 13 school days, but the Calgary Public School strike in 1980 resulted in students missing 44 days.

Thomson is aware of the toolkit offered by the Province, but she doesn’t think a one-size-fits-all approach is going to be very helpful. The Province doesn’t know where students left off with classwork, so it’s possible they will be working on stuff they’ve already learned about.

There has also been some criticism of the Province’s toolkit. 

A CBC news article, Alberta tool kit for students during strike causes confusion, says expert, released on October 10 says Maren Aukerman, an education professor at the University of Calgary, found that the 200 page toolkit is all over the place and barely aligns with the current curriculum.

In the article, Aukerman points out a number of issues, including lessons that aren’t appropriate for grade levels, as well as weekly assessments that cover material not present in the lessons.

Thomson says her children are young enough that she can get them workbooks to continue with the basics at home. However, she worries about high school students who are trying to prepare for diplomas. 

“I really think about those kids; that’s a very different story,” says Thomson.

In the past, diploma exams have been cancelled in emergency situations like the pandemic and during the wildfire in 2023. In Thomson’s opinion, cancelling the diplomas is all well and good, but it can leave students under-prepared for university.

Pat Jeffery, a retired teacher, says she has sympathy for parents and students. Jeffery has eight grandchildren affected by the strike, and she says they tell her every day how much they miss school. But she supports the teachers and doesn’t think the strike is happening because of the pay. She feels that a review of the pay scale for teachers was overdue, and that raises should have been considered, but she doesn’t believe that’s what the strike is about.

“The strike is for the students,” says Jeffery. “The teachers are wanting and getting attention for the sake of the children.”

Jeffery says teachers want more support for all children, not just students with complex needs. She says students with complex needs need more support put in place and that assistance would benefit all students.

“I don’t know what the solution is, it’s going to take a lot to do it all,” says Jeffery. “I’m hoping they can come up with something that will resolve it to a point that they can go back fairly quickly.”

When Jeffery retired, she stepped away from the school system and did not do any substitute teaching, so she wasn’t aware of the challenges that school staff were facing. While away, Jeffery kept in contact with her colleagues and felt she had a good understanding of what was going on for someone not working in the schools.

“I really had an arm’s length view of everything that was going on,” says Jeffery. “I thought I had an outside perspective that wasn’t too bad.”

But when Jeffery began volunteering in one of the schools last year, her eyes were opened. By stepping away and then coming back, she had a new perspective of the situation.

“Things have changed,” says Jeffery. “The demands that are there are much greater than they were.”

In her opinion, some of the issues can be attributed to the pandemic and the inconsistent schooling students had during that period. 

“I think that had an impact on every child,” she says.

Jeffery says teachers are aware of the possible effects of another gap, but feel it’s important to bring awareness to the current situation in the school system.

“I do think they’re being very professional in the way they’re approaching this. They’re sending a very clear message to everybody,” says Jeffery.

The ATA and TEBA sat down with a mediator on October 14 to continue negotiations. If an agreement isn’t reached, it’s unknown when students will be back at school.