EXCLUSIVE: Calgary school pushed teachers to visit mosque and gurdwara as part of ‘professional development’, with no church included

One Alberta teacher has revealed a public school in Calgary strongly advised their teachers attend a mosque and a gurdwara as a part of their "professional development."The school, located in the northeast of the city, where, as confirmed by the teacher, the demographics of the school included many Muslim and Sikh students.In light of this, it seemed the school wished to "educate" its teachers on the religions of some of the students.The source asked to remain anonymous as they are still a teacher at another school. .These "professional development" events held by the school were dedicated to sending their teachers to a mosque and a gurdwara, where there were speakers to educate them on both cultures. Though it was not mandatory to attend these events, there were consequences to not attending."This is the professional development — and who knows what the consequences would have been had you said, 'I'm not comfortable with this.'" the teacher recounted to the Western Standard.."But I mean, I think they [the school] wouldn't have had a leg to stand on to say, 'you're fired,'" if someone were to refuse to attend.""But essentially, this was a required work day."That was sort of unspoken message among staff — since none refused to attend the event.In entering the mosque, female teachers were required to cover their hair, with those not wishing to do so required to stay near the entrance..The speakers presenting in the mosque and temple encouraged teachers to "bring students who aren't part of [those] communities."The source describes the speakers encouraging teachers to "come here more often, so you have a better understanding of what this community needs, and you can be more effective at creating classrooms that are conducive to these students.""So, the implication is very much like you need to understand [this] culture, you need to create classroom spaces that reflect [this] culture, you need to educate yourself about [this] culture, you need to have an understanding of the traditions, the values, and the expectations."The teacher said the school was not allowed to openly address Christmas during winter holidays, and instead was told to say: "Happy Holidays."."There was no Merry Christmas, so you could say 'Happy Holidays' and the understanding was within the context of being culturally inclusive, so it was more culturally inclusive to say 'Happy Holidays' or 'Happy Winter Break,'" the teacher explained about the school's message.However, kids were open to saying "Merry Christmas" to teachers — even when they did not celebrate it themselves. Contrary to the school's stance on mentioning Christmas, it did allow teachers to address Eid."Same with spring break, but we did celebrate, or by celebrate, I should be mindful — there were banners, gold lettering and stuff put up for Eid, so you could say 'Happy Eid' and the name Eid."A tinge odd, since according to the ATA's own webpage dedicated to "embracing diversity during holiday season" they explicitly tell instructors to "refrain from only using terms that exclusively link celebrations to one cultural or religious context.".The source says the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) promotes celebrating certain cultures through "cultural inclusivity," while protecting their own skin, since the ATA does not require teachers to take part in these "culturally inclusive" activities, only strongly encouraging them."The more hardcore you are, the more committed you are seen to be in performing virtuous things, making sure things are safe and caring, and all these people go for these are their gold stars, like 'I'm the safest and the most caring.'"The teacher says they interpret the Calgary school's actions as taking "the most extreme stance in making sure that all of my staff are fully versed in the importance and cultural history of, a smudging ceremony, or of how to best support our Muslim students, especially considering so many of them are from refugee backgrounds.".The source says the ATA's encouragement for schools to educate their teachers on certain cultures introduces an important question: "Is it really the job of the school system to culturally respond to every culture that comes through our doors, and adapt the class, the school, the teaching space, and the delivery of the curriculum to that student's culture?""Is that what multiculturalism means?"The ATA certainly thinks it is.This idea is similarly reflected in the ATA's "Anti-Racism" material dedicated to informing teachers how they should address and act around immigrant students.For example, in their Promoting Success with Indian Immigrant Students booklet, the ATA encourages teachers to "incorporate Indian art, music, dance, history, social studies, or literature into your instructional program.".It also promotes teachers read Indian novels, "watch Indian films, which are available on Netflix and YouTube, from both public and ATA libraries, and in movie theatres" — to ensure they are versed in Indian culture.They even repeat the experience of the undisclosed source — advising teachers to visit "a house of worship—a gurdwara, a mandir or a mosque."Not only does it hope teachers to visit these places of worship, but also their students, "on a walking field trip to an Indian grocery store, a mosque, a gurdwara or a temple."They also have similar booklets for Arab, Filipino, Pakistani, Somali and South Sudanese immigrant students..In the Promoting Success with Immigrant Arab Students Teacher Resources they repeat a similar sentiment advocating teachers "arrange a field trip to a mosque" among other suggestions.Although they mention Arab immigrants are also Christian, they do not mention anything about visiting churches either for field trips or for the teachers themselves.Additionally, on the ATA's website they have a page called the "ATA Library" where they have many articles and videos dedicated to things like, "whiteness and white privilege," and "Canadian Anti-Racism Education."The Western Standard asked the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) whether this "professional development" activity still occurs and if it is part of all Calgary public schools' "professional development" curriculum. .The CBE did not respond directly to the question, but also did not deny that certain schools had sent their teachers to these places of worship. "Schools determine how professional development time is used, with staff actively participating in selecting activities that reflect school priorities based on student data, broader school community needs, and staff professional learning needs," said a CBE representative."Professional learning activities are developed collaboratively with school staff and guided by a clear decision-making framework. This process emphasizes staff involvement and consensus."

EXCLUSIVE: Calgary school pushed teachers to visit mosque and gurdwara as part of ‘professional development’, with no church included

Related Stories

CAMPBELL: The real threat isn't residential school ‘denialism' — it's censorship

GIESBRECHT: Would the Senate have incarcerated the Prime Minister’s father as a ‘residential school denialist’?

Senate rejects residential school 'denialism' law after government opposition

Saskatchewan mother demands girls’ washroom protections at Lampman school