We Support Curriculum Development

(Above: ACEE staff, teachers, and fourteen students met with Education Minister Adriana LaGrange in early 2020).

For over ten years ACEE has been supporting curriculum development in Alberta and we will continue to do so. The next few years will see new K – 12 curriculum in all core subject areas in Alberta – and we are at the table with Alberta Education and their partners, leveraging almost a decade of engagement and relationship to ensure our proposed Curriculum for a Sustainable Future is adopted.

Draft K-6 Curriculum - Analysis and Recommendations and Providing Your Feedback

The government released the draft K-6 curriculum on March 29th, 2021 and we engaged the environmental education community in analyzing the draft and creating a report with recommendations. The government is gathering feedback until the spring of 2022. Click here to read the report and see how you can let Alberta Education know why environmental education is instrumental for the future success of our students!

Curriculum for a Sustainable Future

The Curriculum for a Sustainable Future is a guidebook on what students need to learn to be environmentally, energy and climate literate. It outlines key concepts and student learning outcomes in relation to subjects such as science, social studies and wellness to assist Alberta’s curriculum developers as they update Alberta’s curriculum for all grades and subjects. It was created in 2014 by an Education Task Force based on research and interviews with 35 opinion leaders, with updates over the years - with a major update in 2020 (with a focus on updating energy literacy and overall themes and organization). This document was shared with Alberta Education in the fall of 2020 and Minister LaGrange mentioned in a video message that Alberta Education staff are using this as a reference guide.

Learn More About - and View - the current draft

Education organizations that support environment, energy and climate change education in curriculum

Alberta School Boards Association - Fall 2021 resolutions/position statements
- Environmental education - That, the assembly adopt the position that the Alberta School Board Association support and advocate to the Minister of Education that environmental literacy and competencies be integrated, across all grades and subjects, into the Alberta K-12 curriculum.
Alberta Teacher's Association - 2020 resolutions - Provincial Executive Council
- 3-31/20 Be it resolved that the Association accepts the scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change is a real and critical challenge affecting the planet and the future of humanity.
- 3-14/20 Be it resolved that the Association support the inclusion of curriculum that explicitly addresses issues relating to anthropogenic climate change in a manner that is subject and age appropriate.

Interested in Alberta's curriculum development? Stay up-to-date!

Ministerial Order on Student Learning - announced August 2020 - the legal document that guides the provision of education in Alberta (replaced the 2013 Ministerial Order listed below). Check out the Community Engagement section that states, "Students will demonstrate an understanding of economic development and entrepreneurship, and will recognize the responsibility we share for environmental stewardship and sustainability."

Alberta Education announced eight new advisors to shape a revamped curriculum - a link will be updated to Alberta Education web site when it is posted online. You can find much in the media - here is a CBC story.

ACEE reviewed the Draft Ministerial Order and the Curriculum Advisory Panel report released by Alberta Education in February 2020. We shared our response to help others develop their own responses. Read our response.

We will keep you updated on further opportunities and developments on new curriculum and to see our work in this area over the past ten years click here.

Alberta Education - Curriculum Updates

Ministerial Order on Student Learning - announced August 2020

What's New?

Draft K-4 Curriculum December 2018

Beta test site for Learn Alberta

Ministerial Order on Student Learning – May 2013 (replaced by the August 2020 Ministerial Order listed above)

Why this matters - how to reach a million students!

"In the early 1990s, Alberta Education was developing its new Elementary Science Curriculum. I was invited to meet with their curriculum designers, and I hastily pulled together a small network of thoughtful and knowledgeable environmental educators to add value to those sessions. Several meetings later, we had influenced several dimensions of the curriculum, and successfully pitched Alberta Education on a new Grade Five science topic, Wetland Ecosystems. The new curriculum became law in 1996 and is still in place – and in the intervening 23 years over a million Alberta students have gone outdoors to study pond life and learn first-hand about food chains, ecosystems, and stewardship. THIS is what can happen when we work together to help design new curriculum!"

- Gareth Thomson, Previous Executive Director, Alberta Council for Environmental Education