The debate over teacher evaluations in Alberta

Alberta is considering a plan to review the performance of teachers every five years. But the proposal is getting plenty of dirty looks from the teachers' union. How often should we evaluate Canadian teachers?

It's easy to laugh at Mr. D. as long as you don't actually have him for a teacher. The Alberta government believes no student should have to endure a bad teacher, and has set up a task force to find a way to make sure only good teachers teach.

The Excellence in Teaching Task Force released its recommendations this week. Among them is a proposal to review teacher performance every five years in order for teachers to maintain their professional certification.

Many other professions have a currency to their professions, so there's an ongoing requirement to keep your skills up, or to keep your hours up, whether you're a nurse, or a doctor, or an accountant, or a pharmacist, or a pilot. And they point out that that's not the case in the teaching profession.Alberta's Education Minister, Jeff Johnson

But teachers' unions across Canada think this idea should be banished to the back of the class. The recommendations have been called "unnecessary" and "baffling".

There was minimal contact with us. And when you have recommendations that are conceived in the dark by a group of individuals that can be touted as education savvy, it becomes an issue.Mark Ramsanker, head of the Alberta Teachers Association

We discuss:

• Wendy Carr is the Director of Teacher Education at the University of British Columbia.
• Joe Bower is a teacher and the author of De-Testing and De-Grading Schools: Authentic Alternatives to Accountability and Standardization.
• Tasha Schindel is Vice President of the Alberta School Councils' Association.

Have thoughts you want to share about teacher evaluations?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Cynthia Vukets and Pacinthe Mattar.