Alberta Education's Fine Arts Program in Jeopardy?

There is a proposed Program Update to the curriculum for Fine Arts from the Alberta Education. Follow the link for all the information available on the AE website.

The Beaverbrook Band Association has sent out an email urging parents to get involved and become aware of the proposed changes specifically because the band program and music in general will be affected.

In the email the Lord Beaverbrook Parents Association provide a summary and their take on the potential outcome:

The proposed program is vague and unclear and proposes some potentially disastrous scenarios for fine arts education. Essentially many of the programs would be watered down in order to accommodate a more generalist approach to fine arts education. A specialist would no longer be needed in several cases and a "sampling" of fine arts could be the norm.

Potential Consequences:

• More individual assignment based and less team performance based
• Time tabling will become more complex
• Anticipated drop in enrollment
• Current fine art teacher/student relationships will become compromised.
• Our students will be ill prepared to enter post secondary education institutions

I have asked for comment on this from various groups and am awaiting responses. If you have more to add or have concerns or questions please use the comments form at the end of this posting.