Chapter 4:Categorizing the Data -- Post-war documents -- Review of some of the 1960s group -- 1959 Alberta & Manitoba, 1960 British Columbia

4.2f

Categorizing the Data -- Post-war documents -- Review of some of the 1960s group -- 1959 Alberta & Manitoba, 1960 British Columbia

   Alberta’s 1959 Cameron report is the province’s most important education policy document of the 20^th century. I would not argue as I would in respect of Ontario’s Hope Commission and Hall-Dennis that there is an interdependent relationship in terms of ideology between Alberta’s Cameron Report and Alberta's 1971 Worth Report. At this time in the research, I consider Alberta’s Worth Report to be a consequence of social and political change, not necessarily a logical provincial product resulting from public education policy reform founded in a previous commission. Alberta’s fundamental educational policy document is the Cameron Report, begun in 1957 and completed in 1959. The design of education at the level of the university, the faculty of education, is a product of this document, with Worth Report a product of liberal government, the last one to serve before unbroken conservative governments began in 1971. In terms of the fifty-year time frame cited as a minimal marker for reform documents, it may be that the Worth Report’s forecasting to 2025 is indicative. It may also be, however, given the significance of the 1959 Cameron Report and the political climate in Alberta, that a one hundred year time frame may be indicated for this province. The next major point of educational reform would be occurring 2059 in Alberta if some centralization of education policy in Canada does not get to it sooner. Education reform was achieved through financial reform mid-90s and education responded not to recommendations but to competition and the market, resulting only cutbacks and degradation. The 2004 document responded to public calls for a review of public education but had little impact.

   In part Alberta’s Cameron Report mirrors the Hope Commission (as well as citing it) in terms of responding to financial and teacher shortages as well as covering public educational and school standards quality issues. The Commission writes, in Chapter 3:

   An assessment of the public school system, together with the proposals advanced for its improvement, must take into consideration the whole setting in which the schools operate. The aims of education, its curriculum, organization and administration are in large measure moulded by population, social and economic pressures. This relationship between the school system and its environment has been revealed in histories in other countries and in other times. It has been acknowledged repeatedly with respect to education in Canada in the twentieth century. … The Hope Report states: At the outset of such a review it must be recognized that the aims as well as the organization of education have always been influenced by social, geographic and economic conditions. It is necessary, therefore, to note some of the conditions which have deeply influenced the development and even the purposes of our educational system. [fn] 

   Rural-urban changes are cited with farm population diminishing, urban population increasing. As a consequence of the Great Depression and Alberta’s dependency on agriculture, occupational trends are reviewed, with use of technology remarked as increasing in agricultural and in general. The only policy document that cites business as early as chapter four, Alberta Manufacturers and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce are consulted. Increases in costs of education: “Education is not, of course, the only provincial department to show rising expenditures. Table 7 [p. 33 original version] indicates changes between the fiscal years 1945-46 and 1955-56. It is notable that total expenditures increased 722 per cent; … education 787 per cent …” (Chapter four). Chapter one reviews media attention and:

   A notable phenomenon of recent years in this province and elsewhere is the unprecedented publicity given to matters of public education. The degree to which this publicity arises from general public interest and concern is, of course, arguable. It is certainly true that influential persons and tightly organized groups often speak with an impact that is out of all proportion to public recognition and support. It is also true that many individuals tend simply to parrot the statements of critics.

   Nevertheless there are some very real reasons for enlarged public attention at this time. One of these is the virtually complete implementation of a policy of general education for all. Parents are genuinely concerned for their children because they perceive the dividends paid by education in vocational choice and success. Business and industrial groups are concerned because of the close relationship between certain aspects of the curriculum and the competency of employees. Professional and university groups are concerned because of the nature of the high school program a prerequisite to further professional or academic study. Religious groups are concerned because of the degree to which variously approved creedal or moral concepts are or are not represented in the philosophy and curriculum of the schools. Needless to say, some of the interests suggested above are altruistic and public-spirited; some may be selfish and sectional.

   Further causes are not far to seek: the rapid growth and shift of populations, increasing industrialization and job specialization, changing social patterns, mounting costs of school buildings, equipment, and teaching services. These and other developments have inevitably challenged various kinds of public interest and criticism.

   Factual evidence is available here to the value of collation and comparative argued in this thesis, there is evidence of shared Canadian knowledge -- the Alberta 1959 Commission met with the two other royal commissions considered in this section, Manitoba (1959) and British Columbia (1960). 

Since education was under review by Royal Commission in Manitoba and British Columbia as well as in Alberta, it seemed appropriate to meet with them for the discussion of common problems. The three commissions met on two occasions – June 1958, and July, 1959. An additional meeting was arranged between the Alberta and British Columbia Commission in March, 1959. 

   In total, the five year range between 1957 and 1961 is a particularly important range of education policy production in Canada and appears to have put a series of administrative policies into place which are of considerable importance to an overview of Canadian education policy.