The ATA News , January 13, 2026 ❚ 5
ATA names research award winner Research aims to counter anti-LGBTQ2S+ legislation
Cory Hare ATA News Staff A research project aimed at documenting the impact of new gender-related legislation and policies has won the ATA’s 2025 Education Research Award. The winning submission, by Campus Saint-Jean assistant education professor Gillian Robinson, sought to understand how teachers’ day-to-day professional lives and their perception of their work were impacted by the government’s Bill 27 and ministerial order 030/2025. Passed in the fall of 2024, Bill 27 amended the Education Act to, among other things, require school authorities to notify parents when a student chooses a new preferred name or pronoun related to gender identity and also require opting into instruction that deals primarily and explicitly with gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality. Issued in July 2025, ministerial order 030/2025 bans K–12 school libraries from holding materials that include explicit sexual content and limits access to nonexplicit sexual material for students below Grade 10. It also requires school authorities to develop policies, review collections and keep public lists of library materials. Launched in late August 2025, the award-winning study engaged 30 teachers in one-hour, semi- structured interviews in which teachers explained the various ways the new policies had been interpreted and implemented within their local contexts. Study participants identified an increased hostility among both students and staff toward vulnerable youth and their general teaching practices, as well as a sense of fear of being disciplined for including and affirming students. “It is an incredible honour to be recognized by my peers for this research,” said Robinson, a former queer–straight alliance (QSA) teacher advisor. “I always aim for my work to be meaningful for classroom teachers and the students in their classrooms. I hope, as I continue my career, that I can continue to amplify the voices of teachers seeking to make their schools more welcoming places, and hopefully empower them, as well as educational leaders, to continue
Teachers invited to help build strike archive ADOBE STOCK
2025 award winner Gillian Robinson
ATA News Staff
collected accounts will be preserved in the ATA’s archives and made available to researchers studying the 2025 strike. All identifying information will be redacted before materials are accessed for research. Shane emphasized that every submission, regardless of length or format, has value. “Even a brief reflection can provide nuanced insight into how this moment felt for teachers, for the province— something future generations wouldn’t otherwise get to see,” she said. Participation in this archival project is voluntary, and contributors may choose to share their story in any form of material that suits them. Submissions can be sent by June 30 to archives@ata.ab.ca. It is recommended that attached files be password protected, with the password emailed separately to the same address. Questions about the project can be directed to ATA archivist Maggie Shane at archives@ata.ab.ca.
their important work, even in difficult contexts.” Teachers who participated in the study also recounted the additional hours they spent explaining and implementing the new policies rather than preparing to welcome students to a new school year. Further, many teachers had a sense that the policies had been purposefully implemented at a time of extreme underfunding of education in order to create further division and mistrust of teachers before an upcoming potential strike. Researchers have compiled their findings into a report that includes harm reduction recommendations for senior administrators, school administrators and classroom teachers. The ATA Educational Research Award is presented annually to an Alberta academic who is engaged in research directly related to school and classroom practice in Alberta.
T he Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) is inviting teachers and school leaders to share their first-hand accounts of the 2025 provincewide teachers’ strike, aiming to document this historic moment in the province’s educational landscape. ATA archivist Maggie Shane says the project is an important opportunity to capture the human side of a moment that will shape Alberta’s educational history. “Official documents can tell us what happened,” Shane said. “But personal accounts tell us what it meant.Without these stories, future researchers lose the context, emotion and lived experience that make historical events understandable.” The project seeks written, audio, video and artistic submissions that reflect the experiences of teachers and school leaders during the strike. The
READ THE REPORT The research report is available here:
RESEARCH TEAM The research team included graduate students/classroom teachers Joelle Tymchuk and Megan Girard.
LINDSAY YAKIMYSHYN
CORY HARE
Teachers added to federal student loan forgiveness program
Lindsay Yakimyshyn ATA Ne w s Managing Editor T he federal government has expanded its student loan forgiveness program to include teachers working in rural and small communities. On December 31, 2025, teachers became eligible to participate in the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness program, which aims to attract and retain workers in areas where
recruitment can be difficult. Eligibility for the federal program is determined both by both occupation and location. While the program previously
included family doctors, family medical residents and nurses who worked in eligible areas, more occupations—including teachers, early childhood educators, social workers, psychologists, physiotherapists, dentists, dental hygienists, midwives, personal support workers and pharmacists— are now captured under the program. To qualify, teachers must have worked for 10 consecutive months— and at least 400 hours—in a school located in an eligible community, which,
for the purposes of the program, is defined as a rural area or a population centre with 30,000 or fewer residents. Eligible teachers can receive up to $30,000 in loan forgiveness over a maximum of five years. Applicants must have a student loan that is in good standing. Also of note, the program applies only to the federal portion of student loans. Details about the federal loan forgiveness program, including how to apply, are available on the Government of Canada’s website.
Find out more about the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness program here:
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