Supports for Alberta special needs students have dropped, report finds

A new report from the Alberta Teachers Association is questioning the province's commitment to teaching special needs students.

An arms-length panel assembled by the ATA found that the government didn’t follow up on a promise made in 2010 to make special needs’ programming more accessible and consistent.

“Since then teachers have seen little improvement at the classroom level for students with exceptional needs, and in some cases supports have actually been reduced,” the ATA said in a news release.

The experts on the panel include teachers, academics and officials from the ATA. They made 38 recommendations in their report, listing more money and more training as immediate priorities.

"What you have is [this]: you have a wonderful policy. You have a situation in the classroom that has deteriorated over time and in the middle there has been no implementation or very little implementation, so it's a problem,” said Marc Arnal, the Blue Ribbon Panel Chair.

Alberta Education says the department is reviewing the report.

“While this funding is important to providing these services, in an inclusive education system, it’s the entire funding framework which supports the varying needs of students to help them succeed,” wrote Tamara Magnan.

“While Action on Inclusion is no longer a separate project or initiative, the work to implement an inclusive education system continues and is embedded throughout the ministry,” she added.