Are students safe in the classroom?
Concern about the the violence in the classroom was brought to me through a questionnaire distributed by the Elementary Teachers Federation. They asked how might the OCDSB's strategic plan be improved to address both student and teacher/education worker well being and safety?
My Response
At present, the Board has a three pronged approach to violence and the broader issue of character development: It has a clear set of safe school policies and procedures to outline unacceptable student behaviours and related outcomes, it is encouraging character development through affiliation with a variety of programs, and it has adopted a restorative practices approach to prevention and remediation of harm that has been done. I think the first of these three is well in hand. Character development and restorative practices are in their infancy; I believe, however, that they are key to the process of building healthy children, healthy schools and healthy communities.
Children live in a world where technology simultaneously brings us together and keeps us apart; relationship building and perspective taking must now be part of the curriculum. I would like to see considerable investment in early character development. Programs such as Me to We and Seeds of Empathy should be embraced and expanded upon.
Opportunities through peer learning and teaching are also ways that students can develop individual relationships that take them beyond their typical classroom or athletic interactions to relationships that cross boundaries of age, ability, or background; students need more opportunities to learn first hand that we are all the same – respect follows from that understanding. It is also important to help children deal with stress and to be resilient. The Reaching In… Reaching Out early learning initiative is a positive step but should be up-scaled to Board-wide use.
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