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Education policy in the province of Alberta is set by Alberta Education, a ministry led by the province's minister of education. There are two key policies or ministerial orders that guide professional learning in Alberta. The Teaching Quality Standard (Alberta Education, 1997) outlines the knowledge, skills, and attributes that teachers are expected to possess. The standard specifies competencies for those teachers holding interim certificates (typically teachers in their first two years of practice) and permanent certificates. (See the list of knowledge, skills, and attributes in the box on p. 31.) The Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy (Alberta Education, 2008) aims to ensure that each teacher's ongoing actions, judgments, and decisions are in the best educational interests of students and support optimum learning.
Val Olekshy, executive director of the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium, is careful to point out that she is not part of the government. She adds that it is comforting to work in a policy environment that is extremely col- laborative. "What's so unique about our standards is that when the ministry established these policies, it worked with our teachers association to talk about what teachers need to be responsible for to remain current. They really focused on teachers' career-long professional growth," said Olekshy.
In Alberta, teachers are required to complete an annual professional growth plan that addresses their learning priorities, both in relation to the specifics of the Teaching Quality Standard and also to meet their own expectations about where they know they need to grow, according to Michael Podlosky, coordinator of the Alberta Teachers' Association's professional development program area. The Alberta Teachers' Association supports the creation and support of these plans. The association stresses that exercising professional judgment in diagnosing and responding to student learning needs and in assessing their progress is central to what it means to be a teacher in Alberta. Therefore, teachers have a professional responsibility to keep abreast of new developments in education and to develop their professional practice (Alberta Teachers' Association, n.d.).
MoVING FoRwARD ToGeTHeR
Partnerships and collaborations are at the heart of Alberta's implementation of high-quality professional learning, according to Olekshy. In her role as director at the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium, one of seven learning consortia in Alberta, Olekshy is part of a...