A Study on the Educational Policies on Teacher Education and Social Justice in Alberta: Focused on the Results of Talis 2013

Alberta, a western province of Canada, for the first time in 2013, participated in the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) as a single and only province. Alberta has always been very active in education reform and participation in international competitions, with a view to the pursuit of excellence in education. Especially in the PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS competitions, the performance of primary and secondary school students in Alberta is not only excellent in the Canadian provinces, but also internationally comparable to other advanced countries. Thus, Alberta’s school system and the teaching situation of teachers which cultivate such outstanding students deserve to be explored in depth. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the quantitative results of TALIS 2013 in Alberta from the perspective of social justice to summarize its important characteristics and challenges of teachers’ working conditions and school learning environment. At the same time, through the qualitative results of the interview survey, this paper explores the important implications of the TALIS 2013 survey results and relative reforms on teacher education in Alberta.