Exploring Nuances : Teacher Education History in Alberta

The province of Alberta has a long history of teacher education including a number of firsts in Canada. This chapter is concerned with how teacher education in Alberta began, how and why teacher education in Alberta evolved, and where teacher education in Alberta might be heading. It discusses the emergence of university-based teacher education, the rapid growth of teacher education programs, the evolution of teacher training to teacher education, a period of reduction and differentiation, and possibilities and challenges of preparing teachers for the twenty-first century. The chapter provides curriculum history in the province of Alberta to be a set of relationships between Alberta's universities, the Alberta Teachers' Association, government, community colleges, and communities nested within the social and political context of the province. The 1990s and turn of the century caused teacher education in Alberta to change in significant ways, largely reflecting changes to funding and resources to post-secondary education in Alberta more generally.