Parental mistrust, hostile interactions a growing concern for Alberta teachers

In one small town in Alberta, the assistant principal says teachers almost never meet alone with parents anymore.

Ever since pandemic restrictions polarized the community, he says teachers have been sending more emails rather than calling parents and risking a hostile encounter.

He’s decided he won’t live in the same town where he works as to avoid being constantly recognized as a local principal and harassed at the grocery store.

And since the provincewide teachers' strike in the fall, he says school staff get called “overpaid babysitters” when they’re out on bus supervision.

He says it’s a sign of mistrust — of something broken in the relationship between teachers and some parents — and that in a few cases, the interactions can get volatile. 

“I’ve had to give no-trespass orders,” said the assistant principal. “Twice it's been a parent coming in and cursing and swearing at a teacher. It's been a parent coming in and threatening a teacher because they didn't like the grade that a student got. They have come in and yelled at our support staff because they called to report an absence.”

He requested confidentiality because in his particular town the situation is so tense, he’s worried identifying the school would lead to more conflict.

But he’s not alone in flagging this issue. Listening to other teachers and analysts, it seems to be a challenge that's growing — in ways that are loud and ways that are quiet — as some parents feel more and more alienated from the education system.

In January, CBC News sent a questionnaire to 23,000 Alberta teachers and staff — all of the public-facing email addresses we could find online. 

More than 6,000 people responded and in their comments at the end of the survey, dozens of teachers flagged a growing sense of mistrust, lack of respect, hostile interactions and the breakdown of parent-teacher relationships as significant issues that need attention.   

Some tied this to the tone of Alberta politics — rhetoric from certain politicians, a lack of respect for teachers leading up to the strike, and social media influencers “rage baiting” and saying teachers groom kids or try to brainwash them into woke or left-wing thinking.

Others tied this to changes in parenting and/or a societal decrease in respect for their expertise in education, saying parents often get defensive rather than collaborate with a teacher when there’s a discipline or other issue that needs correction.

And still others suggest teachers share the blame, saying the culture within the education world itself is playing a role. 

One called her colleagues “anti-conservative”; another said she felt she’d be judged as a “terrible person” if she shared her views at school; and several said teachers need to stay away from any discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation, calling it woke.