Curriculum Change Forced on Teachers

Teachers are angry about a decision to adopt a new curriculum at their Montreal-area elementary school. They say the curriculum is being forced on them by the school's governing board, and have appealed to the English Montreal School Board to stop the change. Teachers at Michelangelo School in Rivière des Prairies were asked to complete a trial of the planned changes, and to give their opinion on whether they should be implemented. They have twice voted to drop the curriculum changes, but say the school's governing board is pushing ahead despite teacher objections. Educators feel cheated, says Ruth Rosenfield, head of the Montreal Teachers Association. Their professional opinion was asked but when they gave it, the parents and school administration ignored them.

Ambitious Curriculum in Demand
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) curriculum is often used to draw students to a school, a measure favoured in Quebec where English language schools are constantly under threat of declining enrollment and closure. Taught in many countries around the world, the IB curriculum is designed to help students become global citizens. Parents are attracted to IB schools because they see them as offering a better education, and some schools even have entrance exams and wait lists. But Michelangelo teachers say they voted to reject the prestigious curriculum because they don't feel all their students can meet its demands. They worry particularly that special needs students will not be able to keep up.

The learner profile for primary-aged IB students speaks of promoting "academic rigour" and encouraging students to form "a personal value system leading to international-mindedness." Students at this level are evaluated against a laundry list of ten personality traits, some of which sound like they are best suited to gifted students. It is no surprise teachers worry about outcomes, even for students who have no diagnosed disabilities but tend to struggle academically.

Who Decides What to Teach?
The question of who decides what to teach in Quebec is complicated. The ministry of education dictates the general curriculum for all schools in the province, but individual schools can ask for permission to teach a special curriculum like the IB program. Teachers must teach the curriculum they are given. They are generally expected to make all the adaptations for special needs students themselves, with the help of resource teachers and consultants. To the extent that schools can choose a variation on the provincial curriculum, it is the governing board that makes that decision even though teachers are the ones who must make the changes in their classrooms.

Quebec teachers have been asked to deal with a long period of curriculum reform, and also with several changes in report card format and how students are evaluated. In Quebec's English schools, the change to a bilingual or French immersion curriculum created a sudden increase in the demand for educators who could teach in French. In some schools it wasn't possible to hire enough qualified teachers, and both students and teachers suffered as a result. The new curriculum looked good in theory, but not every school was equipped to implement it when the time came.

Transition to the New Curriculum
As the process of applying for IB status could take several years, Michelangelo School is in no danger of a sudden switch to the new curriculum. Teachers who took part in the testing of the curriculum will already be familiar with its requirements. However, students and staff would be best served if the school took time now to address educator concerns about the curricular adaptations for students who may find the demands too much. The sooner teachers are prepared for the task ahead, the better. This is an opportunity to plan for a smooth transition that will benefit all students and educators.