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• Challenges and Opportunities

  April 26, 2023 11:00 AM Comments Off on Challenges and Opportunities

  Schools play an integral part in the lives of children and youth. Not only is this a space for intellectual development, but it is also where many social skills and core competencies are acquired. During the past three years, provinces and territories implemented a variety of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, including school closures and remote learning. While these measures were focused on reducing the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, there have been other consequences and impacts on the lives of students.

  We are still trying to understand the impact of the pandemic on students, but we do know that there were huge repercussions throughout all education systems across Canada. Challenges included, but are not limited to, staff and student mental health, increased inequalities between learners, staff shortage and chronic attendance problems, learning loss, cancellation of sports and extracurricular activities, and adapting to online learning. There were also, however, a few opportunities that emerged: enhanced teachers’ digital skills, learning outside the classroom, Indigenous land-based education, prioritizing opportunities for authentic learning, and improved curricula in some jurisdictions.

  It is important to recognize students’ intersectional identities and varying circumstances when discussing the impact of COVID-19 on students. We should not generalize the experiences of all youth. Not all communities, or students, faced the same impact of COVID-19.

  Here, we share our experiences during the pandemic. These reflections only represent our individual experiences and not all students’ experiences.

  Online learning

  Fiona: It was January 2020 for me when my school announced that we would be doing classes online. Until that point in my life, I had never used Zoom or Google classroom. In a week, my peers and I were thrown into an unfamiliar world.

  The class was just an hour of looking at black screens with occasional emoji reactions from half-asleep students. Instead of interactive learning, we were asked to watch pre-recorded lectures, usually on Zoom, by teachers. As much as teachers tried their best to make lessons engaging, these lessons were just not as effective.

  For example, in Grade 9 science, we had to learn about the different colours of flames. In a pre-pandemic classroom, students would participate in elaborate experiments and see the different flames at school. In our new class setting, the teacher displayed different pictures of the flames on his screen and explained them one by one. We were unable to experience the bright colours of the flame and experience the excitement. As a result, the information from the class was not deeply impressed upon us.

  Raeesa: Learning online was a challenge at times. From poor internet connections disrupting our classes, to needing to constantly help my siblings who were often confused after their lessons, to staring at a screen for prolonged periods, online learning had many flaws. I found that fewer people spoke and gave answers to questions during online classes, which made things harder for teachers. Due to less student participation, classes felt longer and got boring at points. It was especially sad when the teacher had to wait for someone to answer their question. The flow of the class wasn’t as interesting or engaging, which affected students’ learning and interest.

  On the plus side, learning from the comfort of my home was better for me, since I was in my own learning space. I got to explore and get used to using technology more often for school tasks, which was helpful since in the future most of us will use apps on our devices to complete our assignments and projects.

  Lack of structure, need for more independence

  Fiona: We used to have structured class schedules with strict expectations, like arriving to class on time and being there for attendance. However, as online classes rolled out, there was no one there to ensure we joined the online classes, and in many instances, classes were cancelled due to an unstable network. Because classes weren’t as effective, I had to figure out ways to learn on my own, so I found myself trying to watch crash-course YouTube videos and Khan Academy. Many classmates also resorted to these sources of information. Over time, we felt a disconnection between the teachers and us because they were no longer the people we went to for concerns and inquiries.

  Raeesa: During the pandemic, without a teacher being there to make sure I did my work, I had to learn to be responsible for myself and manage my time independently to complete all my assignments and work at home. I also learned the importance of communicating with teachers. We were able to chat and text with teachers online, and I learned to be the one responsible for communicating with my teachers for help, because they are not able to help me if I don’t ask them.

  Social impacts

  Raeesa: For me, school has always been the place where I can participate in different activities like sports, arts, and clubs, and it has provided me with many opportunities. I missed out on many in-person activities, such as school assemblies and playing on certain sports teams due to the pandemic.

  Fiona: Looking at the greater picture, the pandemic took away the chance for many students to discover their passions. I believe that passion is discovered through meaningful encounters with peers and teachers. With the pandemic, courses that many used to enjoy became mundane and not enjoyable. There were fewer interactions with teachers, less face-to-face communication. In the crucial years of interest exploration in Grades 8, 9, and 10, some were unable to explore their interests to the full extent.

  However, the pandemic helped me appreciate the resources I have in my life. Pre-pandemic, there were no breaks. I was involved in hockey, rugby, multiple extracurricular classes, debate, and more. Right after school, my mom would drive us to all sorts of extracurricular programs. When we got home, my sister and I would quickly eat and go to our rooms to do homework. In contrast, after the pandemic hit a lot of classes were cancelled or were moved online, which gave my family a lot more family time. I was able to have more conversations with my mom and understand her immigration story to Canada. This gave me a stronger sense of family and appreciation for the things my mom has sacrificed to build a life in Canada.

  Youth leadership

  Fiona: The pandemic brought out a huge surge of youth activists and youth leaders. There were many rising issues regarding educational resources, technology, and homelessness. Youth were inspired to speak up and aid their community members after seeing how the pandemic impacted their local communities. On a personal level, I run a non-profit organization, United Speakers Global, that aims to make public speaking resources more accessible to youth. Just after I joined the organization, the pandemic hit and the initiative became completely online – which at first seemed a problem. However, with an increased demand for these programs, we reached more students not only in the GTA but also in 11 different cities globally. Through this organization, I met youth leaders in Kuwait, Shanghai, Zambia, the U.S., and other places.

  Last words

  Raeesa: While the pandemic had its negative impacts on my learning, there were also some perks and learning opportunities. I like to think of it as a matter of perspective. I could have looked at the pandemic as an obstacle I was unable to overcome. Instead, I looked at the pandemic as a learning opportunity and used all the obstacles that came my way as stepping stones to opening my mind to different perspectives and ways of learning. The challenges helped me move forward instead of halting my path. In the end, it is our perception that forms our life and the way we choose to live it.

   

  Photos: iStock, Fiona Shen and Raeesa Hoque

  First published in Education Canada, April 2023

• Moving Beyond Self-Care

  June 20, 2022 7:29 AM Comments Off on Moving Beyond Self-Care

  Gail Markin will be delivering the workshop, “Beyond Self-Care: Leading a Systemic Approach to Well-Being for Educators “, during EdCan’s upcoming 2022 Pan-Canadian Summit on K-12 Workplace Wellbeing.

  “Let us define ‘ethical intention’ as aiming at the ‘good life’ with and for others, in just institutions.”  –Paul Ricoeur (1990/1992, p.172)

  What ethical responsibilities do educational organizations have to create the conditions that foster employee well-being? Is the strategy of self-care promotion sufficient or should educational organizations consider what other obligations exist in order to encourage the “good life?” If we are aiming at the good life as Ricoeur (1990/1992) suggests, and if our intention is to create well-being in the education workplace, then reminding people to take care of themselves and focusing on the health practices of individuals is not enough. People exist in relationships and work in complex systems, so addressing these things is also necessary in order to create and support well-being. If the relationships or systems are not well, then focusing on the individual “fixing” themselves becomes both ineffective and frustrating. 

  Making the “right” health decisions and doing self-care activities tend to be framed as a competence or character issue of an individual (Wang, Pollock, & Hauseman, 2018), but this idea falls apart when one considers that an employee only has control over one part of the situation. For example, employees can do all of the things they know are good for them – they can eat well, get the requisite hours of sleep each night, exercise, meditate, have great social support, and so on – but if they are in a toxic workplace environment or work with others who don’t care about them, then they will not be well. Many education leaders who are promoting and supporting self-care are trying to do the right thing for their employees, their employers, or both, but are, unintentionally, losing the substance for the shadow and doing more harm than good. 

  More and more ministries of education and school districts are recognizing the need to address staff well-being as an important step toward increasing student well-being. They are also acknowledging the importance of staff well-being in relation to students’ learning outcomes. In the province of B.C., the newly published Mental Health in Schools Strategy (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2020) recognizes the need for adult well-being for the very first time. “Not only does adult stress impact students directly, it can also lead to increased sick days taken by staff, increased disability claims and challenges with retention and recruitment, all of which cost the school system as a whole” (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2020, p. 5).

  The Mental Health in Schools Strategy document correctly points out that there is also a business case to be made for addressing staff well-being. Education leaders are looking at well-being as a way to save money through lower absenteeism, increased staff retention, and other human resources considerations. Having a safe and caring workplace creates value for the institution, as it increases productivity and makes financial sense from the human resources perspective – but employee well-being has value beyond just what it can provide in a linear and measurable cost/benefit analysis. Organizations have a moral responsibility for the well-being of their employees. There is also intrinsic value that exists in the relationships between people that we cannot reduce to numbers and statistical analysis; this benefit exists in the connection itself and is experienced in the most successful and creative teams (Waterhouse, 2019). 

  As individual employees, we exist within organizations that are in relationships within the larger system. The system is not a separate entity that exists outside of the individuals who are part of it. The organization itself is made up of, developed, and shaped by people in relationship. This explanation fits with the idea that “the moral life of organizations is reducible neither to individual morality, nor to institutional structures. Rather it is usually the interplay of individual moral agency on the one hand, and organizational structures on the other that determines outcomes” (Herzog, 2018, p. 2). This interplay doesn’t take away the responsibility that each person has for their own decisions and actions, nor does it waive organizations’ responsibilities to attend to their employees’ well-being. But instead, it acknowledges that those decisions and actions, whether they are individual or organizational, occur within and are impacted and shaped by the individual’s relationships and interactions with the organizational contexts. Organizations need to change the way they work, co-develop well-being strategies and practices with their employees, and wholeheartedly integrate them into their daily lives.

  

  Taking action

  It is valuable to look at what an organization is doing to promote health and well-being and whether these strategies and practices are having the intended impact. The use of self-care as a well-being strategy puts the responsibility on the individual to take care of their own health, ignoring the systemic inequities that create an unequal playing field. It also ignores the responsibility of organizational leaders to create and support policies and practices that bring well-being into the culture and structure of their organizations. In the education workplace, the role of the employers in supporting well-being is often seen as simply providing information – via newsletters, blog posts, or “wellness days” – for employees to learn about self-care they can do on their own. Such a view is patronizing, as it places the burden on individuals and neglects organizations’ impact on and responsibility for their employees. Recently, an education colleague spoke about a staff wellness day at their school: “Our administrator was praising the day and publicly people were praising the day too, but privately no one saw the point.” The idea that work-related stress can be relieved with health promotion materials is problematic because it ignores the organizational, social, and systemic patterns that have contributed to the stress in the first place (Bressi & Vaden, 2017). As illustrated from the above example, it also runs the risk of appearing inauthentic or becoming a “Band-Aid” solution that could damage the very relationships that it aims to support. 

  The other workplace strategy around self-care practices is to encourage or reinforce better health practices. Some districts are promoting the use of apps that record fitness and other health goals. These apps are often part of the employee assistance program offerings and tend to reward individuals or teams for meeting their goals with virtual awards or gift cards. There are mixed opinions on the effectiveness of these types of behaviour modification programs, but it is generally agreed that how these programs are structured matters. A study by Gneezy et al. (2011) found that this is particularly true for initiatives designed for the public good, as incentive programs can have “adverse effects in social norms, image concerns or trust” (p. 206). The same study also found that using incentives to make lifestyle changes sometimes works in the short term but is usually not sustainable. These are often great tools, but alone they are just not enough. 

  So, if we want to increase staff well-being and experience all the benefits this provides, what do we do?

  One of the more promising strategies in workplace well-being is the idea of moving to a joint responsibility model of health promotion (Joyce et al., 2016). A white paper put out by the Mental Health Commission of Canada and Morneau Shepell (2018), a human resources company, promotes this joint responsibility model that includes recommendations like creating a caring culture and supporting the employee-manager relationship. We would like to suggest a three-part model that includes looking after self, supporting and caring about each other, and considering the policies and practices in the system that either promote or get in the way of well-being. 

  Having a well-being plan that has all three components acknowledges the shared responsibility and makes this something people at all levels of the organization are working on together. For example, it is still the individual’s responsibility to take care of their own health, so information or programs that encourage self-care are great – but only if that is just one part of a more comprehensive well-being support plan. The plan should also include ways to support each other like team building, opportunities to contribute, plans to address conflict, and anything that supports connection, collaboration, and belonging on teams. The third part is looking at policies and practices through the lens of equity and well-being. Which of your practices/policies are supporting well-being and which are getting in the way of it? There are many examples and opportunities to look at established practices with a new well-being lens, such as: whose voices are included in decision making processes? Do our onboard practices create equity and belonging? How do people advance in our district? Do we provide opportunities for ideas and feedback to be heard and shared? Do we need an email policy to support boundaries around work time? The answers to these and so many more questions will vary, but they are definitely worth asking and reflecting on together. 

  The education system’s ethical responsibility is to work together on creating well-being in the K–12 workplace; it is then that Paul Ricoeur’s (1990/1992) ethical aim for “the ‘good life’ with and for others, in just institutions” (p. 172) can be truly be achieved.

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  Learn more about the pan-canadian summit, an exclusive professional learning experience for district teams of staff wellbeing champions seeking concrete ways to embed and sustain a happier and healthier workplace culture.

   

  References

  Bressi, S., & Vaden, E. R. (2017). Reconsidering self-care. Clinical Social Work Journal, 45(1), 33–38.

  British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2020). Mental health in schools strategy. Government of British Columbia.

  Gneezy, U., Meier, S., & Rey-Biel, P. (2011). When and why incentives (don’t) work to modify behavior. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(4), 191–209. 

  www.jstor.org/stable/41337236

  Herzog, L. (2018). Reclaiming the system: Moral responsibility, divided labour, and the role of organizations in society. Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198830405.001.0001

  Joyce, S., Modini, M., et al. (2016). Workplace interventions for common mental disorders: A systematic meta-review. Psychological Medicine, 46(4), 683–697. doi:10.1017/S0033291715002408

  Mental Health Commission of Canada & Morneau Shepell (2018). Understanding mental health, mental illness, and their impacts in the workplace. Health Canada.

  Ricoeur, P. (1992). Oneself as another (Kathleen Blamey, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1990.)

  Wang, F., Pollock, K., & Hauseman, D. C. (2018). Ontario principals’ and vice-principals’ well-being and coping strategies in the context of work intensification. In S. Cherkowski & K. Walker (Eds.), Perspectives on flourishing in schools (pp. 287–303). Lexington Books.

  Waterhouse, A. (2019). Positive relationships in school: Supporting emotional health and well-being. Routledge.

• What’s STRONG with Us in Mental Health and Well-Being?

  March 23, 2022 11:43 AM Comments Off on What’s STRONG with Us in Mental Health and Well-Being?

  Welcome to Flight 2022! We are taking off into this new year with our positive attitude and gratitude secured in the upright position. We have turned off and stowed away all self-destructive devices, like worry and negativity. Our leadership, activated by hope, connections, strategic planning, and grit, will be assisting other passengers in activating their leadership. We will celebrate our efforts and enjoy this flight!

  Educational leaders are trying to refuel their well-being and mental health while in full flight. Part of the flight path for Saskatchewan is shared here.

  The Ministry of Education in Saskatchewan has established a two-year plan to address mental health and well-being in K–12 education. Led by a committee of senior educational administrators in partnership with the provincial Ministry, the plan includes:

  • An inter-ministerial working group to streamline provincial initiatives in mental health and well-being, for comprehensive awareness of offerings and grant opportunities.
  • A well-being plan for staff and students constructed by each school division, with a provincial template available if needed.
  • A regular provincial newsletter featuring activities and successful well-being practices of school division practitioners.
  • An annual provincial symposium on mental health and well-being, bringing keynote speakers and school division presenters together to share initiatives.
  • A database of mental health and well-being resources.

  At the school division level, school leaders are working within their local context to support students and staff. School-based well-being plans include local committee initiatives, specific programs, surveys, and community partnerships. Schools are supported by system-level initiatives including professional development, speakers, strategic messaging, system need surveys, and various grants.

  The EdCan Network, via its Well at Work staff well-being initiative, has come into Saskatchewan as a welcomed “objective, critical friend” to support our mental health and well-being efforts:

  • EdCan designed and delivered a leadership well-being module and keynote at the Saskatchewan League of Educational Administrators, Directors and Superintendents AGM and Spring Conference.
  • Well at Work Advisory Services are being provided in a few school divisions to help them identify workplace well-being issues and develop an actionable plan to strengthen staff mental health.
  • EdCan Well at Work Design Team members will present at the provincial well-being symposium in May to an audience of senior and school-based leaders.

  Educational leaders need to support each other to meet the challenges of staff and student well-being with wisdom, strength, and confidence. There is a hunger for economical and proactive supports that educational leaders can readily apply and share. Educational leaders also want to know if their pathways and initiatives are really positively impacting as intended. The exciting part is that there are “beacons of brilliance” that exist across schools, school divisions, and provinces.

  The authentic, safe connections and networking of educational leaders onsite and in virtual ways to face these challenges together is a brilliant opportunity in 2022. Our leadership connections will inspire us and help us be that needed steady light for our students, staff, communities and for ourselves as we rebound in 2022–23.

  Have a safe landing!

   

  First published in Education Canada, March 2022

• After-School Programs

  September 28, 2021 5:12 PM Comments Off on After-School Programs

  The lights are low and peaceful in the school gymnasium. Around the floor, tiny pink and purple yoga mats are splayed in a large circle, six feet apart. The Community Schools Partnership facilitator sits in the centre. “This is how you breathe mindfully. Sit with your heart up and take a deep breath in and empty all of the worries from your day.” The students in her program adore her. She is the reason some students come to school each day during a pandemic. They feel the safe, caring space and it shows.

  Who are we?

  Community Schools Partnership (CSP) is a department that complements educational programs in Surrey Schools. Our work is to provide before-, during-, and after-school programs with a focus on sports, arts, STEM, and social-emotional learning (SEL) opportunities. CSP’s goals are aligned with the district’s goals to ensure equity and access for all children to reach their full potential, expand their learning, and grow socially and emotionally. Our programs are shaped around the needs of the school community. We focus on programs and partnership development in areas like physical literacy, art, music, STEM, coding, yoga, dance, and many other extra activities. It is in these programs that CSP Outreach staff have the opportunity to support children and youth who may not have access to fun physical and emotional supports that help them thrive.

  Community Schools Partnership is funded through multiple streams provincially, locally, and federally. Our primary funding is through the Community Link Funding, which is intended to target students with complexities who need the additional supports in schools to thrive. Some of those complexities include financial and accessibilty barriers.

  Throughout the pandemic, our small but mighty department pivoted and flexed in ways we never knew were possible to ensure that after-school programs continued. In British Columbia, schools remained open throughout the pandemic. Our team continued to implement programs by following the guidelines from the Provincial Health Authority and our school district’s Health and Safety team. Some of the key measures we put in place included: shortening program time, lowering numbers of students in programs, keeping students in their learning cohorts (not mixing cohorts), and communicating clear guidelines for keeping our students and school communities safe.

  Why after-school programs matter

  After-school programs have always made a difference for kids. They became even more important during the pandemic, when students were on blended learning programs that limited their ability to see friends face to face. Our CSP Outreach Workers and Facilitators worked hard to continue to meet the needs of our students and bring them back to safety, security, and normalcy. One of our Outreach staff, Vanessa, related that “many kids want to learn friendship skills, especially given the circumstances where they are forced to stay at home for extended periods.”

  At a time when the mental health and well-being of young people have been clearly impacted, intentional programming that effectively responds to the needs of students will support their recovery as we move into our “new normal.”

  Community Schools Partnership programs foster an atmosphere of safety and wrap-around support. They are not separate from the school culture; rather they echo the values and learning throughout the school day and contribute to a school culture that is healthy and robust. Jordan, one of our outreach workers, says, “In our after-school programs, everyone feels accepted and valued. We create opportunities for team building and bringing everyone closer to our common goals.” CSP’s after-school programs provide an intentional space to extend students’ learning and belonging. Student participants feel more connected to the school because they belong to the programs. Group leader Meghan names additional benefits: “Social-emotional learning, social connections after school, physical literacy, and community empowerment.”

  Results of the program evaluation

  Through the pandemic, we felt it was increasingly important to know where our students were at, socially and emotionally. We collaborated with our research department to create a survey based on some key pillars that reflect the students’ perception of how they are doing.

  We evaluated students in nine different CSP after-school programs. Data was collected from 617 program participants ages six to 12, attending these programs across Surrey Schools. Program participants were asked to complete a 25-item survey, broadly grouped into five domains using a five-point Likert Scale. Program participants responded to survey items by indicating their level of agreement: 1) Disagree a lot; 2) Disagree a little; 3) Don’t agree or disagree; 4) Agree a little; and 5) Agree a lot. Additional open-ended questions were posed to program participants.

  What we learned through this process was that students who attend CSP after-school programs tend to report higher feelings of attachment and after-school involvement, and to feel a deeper sense of awareness of their thoughts and feelings, than is reported by the overall school population of B.C. in the provincial Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) survey (see Figure 1). These are early findings, but showcase the importance of after-school programming.

  

  Teaching where they are at

  We have been fortunate to be able to run after-school programs for students despite the pandemic. The strain that the pandemic has added to the lives of students has amplified the urgency for us to continue to effectively address the areas of mental health and SEL in our youth. Jordynn, one of our outreach staff, says, “Teaching mental health literacy in our after-school programs has been integral… mindfulness, awareness, and fostering social interactions have been lacking throughout this pandemic.” The opportunity for healthy interactions and rediscovering that place of quiet and calm can offer a much-needed respite for our youth, some of whom may find that the only space for them to practise mindfulness is in their after-school programs.

  Consistently listening to the voices, opinions, and insights of our students is essential in creating programs that truly meet their needs. The more we listen, hear, and apply their considerations and make any necessary adaptations to our programs, the more we reach students where they are at and build their trust. We are always listening to them.

  At the beginning of the article, our students were finding peace in their after-school program. In the final moments of this program, each student takes a long deep breath in and out. Then they roll up their little yoga mats, and the outreach worker checks in with each student as they make their way to the yoga mat bin. One student says casually on the way out, “I can teach this to my mom. Sometimes she gets stressed too, this could help her,” and runs to catch up with her mom waiting outside. This captures why we do what we do. The pressure that the pandemic is placing on our families and society is significant; however with supports and programming, we adapt. CSP after-school programs encourage children to express and accept their feelings, to embrace challenges, and to build up their resiliency toolboxes.

  The authors wish to thank: Chadwin Stang, Tanya Parker, Arthur Tiojanco, Mark Elke, Denis Pavlovic, Manjot Badesha, Jordynn Punter, Jordan McDougall, and the Community Schools Partnership Team.

  Photo: Courtesy James Speidel

  First published in Education Canada, September 2021

• Overcoming Reading Deficits

  May 27, 2021 2:59 PM Comments Off on Overcoming Reading Deficits

  The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) introduced Empower^TM Reading (henceforth, Empower) to address the ongoing needs of exceptional students with reading difficulties.

  Over 30 years ago, TCDSB partnered with Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) to introduce Empower in its developmental phase (Lovett & Steinbach, 1997). TCDSB continues to use Empower’s commercial version in up to 100 classes, located in 70+ schools; numbers vary slightly by year. 

  The TCDSB-SickKids’ partnership occurred when the whole-language approach was influential in shaping educational practice in Ontario. Its opponents, however, presented counter-evidence that basic pre-requisite skills, including phonemic awareness, reading fluency, and vocabulary development (Nathan & Stanovich, 1991), are critical in improving automaticity in decoding and reading, necessary before learning higher-level skills. Persistent deficits in basic word identification skills require direct remediation of phonologically-based reading skills, systematic and explicit instruction in letter-sound and letter cluster-sound mappings, and reinforcement of word identification learning (Rayner, et al., 2001).

  TCDSB’s involvement in Empower development began when the identification of learning disabilities was based on the now-defunct model of IQ-achievement discrepancy. Current practice across Ontario school-boards focuses instead on the “psychological processes” underlying a learning disability, of which phonological processing is one. It involves the awareness of phonemes – the alphabetic principle that underlies our system of written language. Specifically, developing readers need an understanding of the internal structure of words to benefit from formal reading instruction (Adams, 1990). Once decoding is efficient, attention and memory processes are freed for comprehension. Phonological awareness therefore assumes a pivotal role in learning to read.  It is a strong predictor of a child’s literacy development (Melby‐Lervåg et al., 2012), from Kindergarten throughout school (Perfetti et al., 1987; Calfee et al., 1973).

  The Empower program addresses learning problems of struggling readers by remediating core deficits in decoding, spelling, word-reading, vocabulary development, and text comprehension. The program’s initial focus on letter-sound identification and sound-blending training gradually moves to larger sub-syllabic units such as phonograms, vowel clusters and affixes, each with its own metacognitive strategy.                                              

  To address reading difficulties confronting special education students, TCDSB deploys Empower as a Tier-3 reading intervention, targeting those with a Learning Disability (LD)/Language Impairment (LI) learning profile for whom previous Tier-1 & 2 interventions (e.g. 5^th Block) have been unsuccessful. The main admission criteria are:

  1. The student is formally identified as LD/LI, or being assessed/tracked for LD/LI difficulties
  2. The primary presenting concern is difficulty in decoding and/or word identification, or text comprehension, as appropriate for the program being considered
  3. The student has an Individual Education Plan (IEP)
  4. Consistent attendance, and ability to participate without disruption

  TCDSB implementation model

  Select TCDSB elementary schools host Empower program(s), with mandatory training by SickKids-appointed staff, accountability/research tracking, and centralized monitoring/management by the TCDSB Empower Steering Committee. Comprised of interdisciplinary representatives, the Empower Steering Committee oversees program implementation.

  With authorization from SickKids, highly experienced TCDSB-appointed special education teachers monitor the fidelity of implementation by serving as internal mentors/trainers. There are two initial training days for teachers, further training during the year, and subsequent refreshers. The mentor provides scheduled classroom visits and consultation via phone/e-mail. Training focuses on instructional methods, Empower lesson components and materials, student monitoring and assessment.

  When interviewed, teachers were very pleased with the initial training (despite its intensity) and support/feedback from mentors’ classroom visits.

  About half of the 70+ participating schools were selected as Empower “Hubs,” receiving additional staffing allocation. Eligible students from non-Empower schools could transfer to a nearby “Hub” for one year and receive instruction in Empower and all other subjects. Teachers consistently reported that transferred students made academic and social progress similar to other Empower students.

  We focus on Empower Decoding/Spelling for Grades 2 to 5. More than 100 60-minute lessons are taught to about 500 students in small classes of 4–7. In addition, the Board recently implemented Decoding/Spelling for Grades 6 to 8, and Comprehension for Grades 3 to 7.

  To address core deficits in decoding and spelling, students receive instruction in five decoding strategies in sequence:

  1. Sounding Out (a phonological letter-sound decoding strategy)
  2. Rhyming (word identification using known keywords to decode unknown words with the same spelling patterns)
  3. Peeling Off (stripping prefixes and suffixes from multisyllabic words to get a smaller root, which then can be decoded using one of the other strategies)
  4. Vowel Alert (trying variable vowel pronunciations according to their frequency
  5. Spy (seeking familiar parts of unfamiliar words).

  

  On several letter-sound and word-identification tests, most students made substantial gains in decoding (see examples in sidebar). Students read more in class or at home and were positive about their reading ability. Students admitted to Empower while waiting for assessment for LD/LI difficulties made good progress with Empower. Often they ended up not meeting the requirements of a formal identification, or no longer required a formal IEP. Some formally identified LD students and most LI students made progress, but less so than other students.   Others made limited progress because of poor attendance and behaviour, reinforcing the requirement to address these issues before Empower. The behaviour of some students improved after success in decoding. 

  Teachers recommended that 20–40 percent (depending on the measure/report) of students receive additional reinforcement after Empower to help them cope with reading in higher grades.

  Empower teacher feedback

  Empower teachers were interviewed/surveyed every year on implementation of Empower. Often, they reported successful implementation. Some problems were often resolved in the first year; others persisted and required central intervention.

  When Empower classes first rolled out, staff were pressured to place English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and Mild-Intellectual-Disability (MID) students in their classes, as well as students with behavioural and attendance issues. Some teachers had classes of students with varying grade levels and needs. By the following year, however, school administrators corroborated with teachers to adhere to admission criteria, but problems around behaviour and attendance persisted. In response, the Empower Committee provided written instructions to principals, followed by specific procedures to centralize annual screening.

  Initially, about 40 percent of classes did not finish the program in one school year, often delaying the class that followed. The Empower Committee therefore required all new classes to begin in September. As a result, classes now finish on time, except under exceptional circumstances (e.g. long-term teacher illness).

  At the outset, first-year teachers reported needing 70+ minutes per class. More experienced teachers generally completed instruction in 60 minutes or less.

  As the program progressed, most Empower teachers met with regular/special education teachers, often informally, to discuss Empower lessons and students’ needs/progress. Classroom teachers were encouraged to have Empower students read in class and at home. Teachers discussed collaboration on assessment and sharing results, especially when Empower teachers were not familiar with Primary assessment. Support from the principal was essential, especially in addressing scheduling and collaboration. Sometimes, diplomatic negotiation was needed to schedule Empower, mandatory classes taught by itinerant teachers (Gym, French), and major subjects like Math. Empower is fast-paced, requiring uninterrupted class time without announcements, school activities or professional obligations. After the first year of Empower, such interruptions were rare.

  Parents were expected to meet the Empower teacher as part of the admission process. Students were encouraged to read at home and discuss passages with parents. On interview night, about half of parents met with teachers who provided them with information on Empower and homework. Some parents were highly cooperative; others less so.

  The Empower program requires a strong commitment to implement effectively. However, we feel the results attest to the program’s worth. This success is not only determined by assessment, but by continuing positive feedback obtained from stakeholders that Empower has indeed changed students’ lives and positively impacted their learning. As one Grade 3 student put it: “Thank you for making Empower. I couldn’t even read a book that was easy. I can read books that are chapter books AND 24 pages long!”  Parents are equally enthused, as one described her experience: “This program has not only helped my son to learn how to read but also improved his self-esteem. He doesn’t have to pretend to know how to read anymore; he knows that he can actually do it.” Teacher and school administrators are similarly highly motivated to host Empower, as in one principal’s feedback: “The Empower program has made a profound difference to the lives of many students. Students become strategic and successful readers. Over 12 years, I have witnessed the transformative power of the Empower program.” Perhaps what is most rewarding to teachers, frontline staff and the interdisciplinary professionals running Empower is the affirmation that scientifically-based and well-executed remediation programs have a key role to play in the eradication of illiteracy in our 21^st century learning, to forever change the lives of children and their families for the better.

  References

  Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Bolt, Beranek, and Newman, Inc.

  Calfee R.C., Lindamood, P., & Lindamood, C. (1973). Acoustic-phonetic skills and reading–kindergarten through twelfth grade. J Educ Psychol. 1973 Jun, 64(3):293–298.

  Lovett, M. W., & Steinbach, K. A. (1997). The effectiveness of remedial programs for reading disabled children of different ages: Does the benefit decrease for older children? Learning Disability Quarterly, 20(3), 189–210. 

  Melby-Lervåg, M., Lyster, S.-A. H., & Hulme, C. (2012). Phonological skills and their role in learning to read: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 322–352. doi.org/10.1037/a0026744

  Nathan, R. G., & Stanovich, K. E. (1991). The Causes and Consequences of Differences in Reading Fluency. Theory into Practice, 30(3), 176–183.

  Perfetti, C. A., Beck, I., Bell, L. C., & Hughes, C. (1987). Phonemic knowledge and learning to read are reciprocal: A longitudinal study of first grade children. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33(3), 283–319.

  Rayner, K., Foorman, B., Perfetti, C. A., Pesetsky, D., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2001). How psychological science informs the teaching of reading. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2, 31–74.

  Acknowledgments:

  The research described in this article has previously been reported to various TCDSB committees. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions/policy of the TCDSB.

  The authors wish to express their gratitude to Dr. Maria Kokai (TCDSB), Dr. Marina Vanayan (TCDSB), and the SickKids’ LDRP Team for their guidance and advice. The successful implementation of Empower was only made possible by the vision and firm support of the TCDSB Superintendents of Special Services, past and present, as well as the professionalism and hard work of the many Empower teachers, the Empower Steering Committee, mentors/trainers, and Special Services staff who dedicate their time and career to better the lives of children under our care.

• Webinar: Learning our Way out of the Pandemic: Beyond “back to normal” for students

  April 26, 2021 4:24 PM Comments Off on Webinar: Learning our Way out of the Pandemic: Beyond “back to normal” for students

  

  Wednesday, May 19 at 1pm ET on Zoom | One-hour webinar

  Presented by Karen Mundy and Kelly Gallagher-Mackay

  Like so many families and children around the world, Canadians are looking with relief to a more open, carefree summer and normal return to school later this year. But after 18 months of profound disruption – will ‘normal’ be good enough?  Are we on track to set all children up for success in a world that often seems more uncertain – and unequal – than ever before?

  This webinar, sponsored by online learning toolmaker IPEVO, will examine how Canadian schools have fared during COVID19 compared to those in other jurisdictions. We then turn to evidence-based ways that educators can ensure a better, stronger, and more equitable start in September 2021.

  Read the full article: Learning Our Way Out of the Pandemic, Beyond “back to normal” for Canadian students

  don’t miss our SPECIAL GIVEAWAY!

  If you sign up to receive special offers by email from both the EdCan Network and IPEVO, your name will be added into a draw at the end of this webinar to get one of two IPEVO Document Cameras!

   

  Biographies

  

  Karen Mundy is a Professor of Education Leadership and Policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (OISE/UT). An expert on educational reform in lower-income countries, she is also an advocate and parent committed to improving educational equity in Canadian schools. She recently launched an academic support program that partners OISE volunteers with underserved students in the Toronto District School Board.

  

  Kelly Gallagher-Mackay is an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University. Past roles include Research Director at the Future Skills Centre and at People for Education, and Northern Director of Akitsiraq Law school in Nunavut. She has two kids in public school.

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  IPEVO is a design-driven company dedicated to creating teaching, learning, presentation, and communication tools for the connected world, with a focus on Document Cameras. IPEVO has been leading the communication and visual transmission industry for more than 10 years and it is the number one choice for educators across the globe.

• Education Canada, March 2021 – Flipbook Edition

  April 20, 2021 10:11 AM Comments Off on Education Canada, March 2021 – Flipbook Edition

  Teaching with the UN Sustainable Development Goals

  Published by the EdCan Network in partnership with

  

  On a global scale, we’re faced with complex societal and environmental challenges such as climate change, poverty, inequality and environmental degradation that we must address in order to achieve a more sustainable future for all. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lay out 17 action areas aimed at sustaining life (both human and non-human), ending poverty, and achieving social justice. These are the building blocks of global well-being.

  For educators, the SDGs have enormous educational importance and potential. They offer cross-curricular relevancy and invaluable learning opportunities for students to discover their crucial role in solving local, regional, and global problems, starting in their own community. Simultaneously, education ministries, school districts and school communities will discover that engaging with the SDGs can support students in the important goal of acquiring the six pan-Canadian Global Competencies identified by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), to equip them to thrive in and shape their world.

  In this issue, we explore how educators can engage students to become active global citizens and authentically address global issues in empowering and hopeful ways.

  Cover photo: courtesy MCIC

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  WEB EXCLUSIVES

  • Much More Than a Bilingual Country
  • Active citizenship education to empower young people
  • Appreciating biodiversity to better protect it
  • Providing a Quality Education in a Multicultural Environment
  • Design Thinking

  RELATED EDCAN FACT SHEETS

  • How can the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) support K-12 teaching and learning?
  • How should climate change be taught in schools?
  • How can teachers and parents help students build up their financial literacy?

• Real-Life Learning

  April 14, 2021 1:35 PM Comments Off on Real-Life Learning

  Whew. We made it through the winter. For many of you it has been, professionally and/or personally, the hardest winter ever. But with vaccination underway and warm weather ahead, we think we see light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel.

  After a year that forced educators to teach, or lead, reactively in response to a mountain of new challenges, we thought it might be a welcome change to look forward to a more aspirational approach to teaching and learning. Yes, there are ongoing and critical COVID issues. But we can also start thinking about how to re-engage students, build school community and make education the best training ground possible for our future leaders and citizens.

  Taking on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), whether as a school or as a class, is an exciting way to address all three of these goals. I like to think of this issue as a seed catalogue. The catalogue arrives when it’s still too cold to plant, but it conjures up big dreams for gardening season. We hope this issue will sow lots of ideas, and also lead you to the resources to develop them into a real plan. How great would it be to cover the curriculum in a way that engages students in real-world problems, encourages them to claim a stake in making the world a better place, and develops essential competencies in the process?

  The authors in this issue are in the vanguard of integrating the SDGs into Canadian schooling, and part of an international network of educators who are helping to achieve these ambitious Agenda 2030 goals while providing their students with a positive, empowering opportunity to learn about and take action on global issues that are also urgent problems here at home, such as clean drinking water for Indigenous communities, homelessness, climate change, food insecurity, and racial inequities. See how other schools have taken on one or more of the goals in our article on UNESCO Schools, from our partners at CCUNESCO (p. 11). Or dive right into the features to learn about what the UN SDGs are, why they present such a great opportunity for educators, and how to integrate the SDGs into your classroom and school.

  I hope this issue inspires educators, schools, and school boards to start planning how they might get involved in this world-changing initiative – and sow the seeds for a sustainable future.

  Photo: courtesy MCIC

  First published in Education Canada, March 2021

  Read other articles from this issue

   

  Write to us!

  We want to know what you think. Send your comments and article proposals to editor@edcan.ca – or join the conversation by using #EdCan on Twitter and Facebook.

• Implementing Social Emotional Learning During a Pandemic

  February 17, 2021 4:07 PM Comments Off on Implementing Social Emotional Learning During a Pandemic

  

   

  Join us for a special virtual event focusing on the increasing importance of supporting social-emotional learning (SEL) amidst a global pandemic. This event will feature Avon Maitland District School Board in Ontario, who will be sharing their experience implementing and measuring SEL using Peekapak resources. The flexibility of Peekapak’s SEL in either remote or in-class formats makes it easy for educators to implement.  This event is intended to help school administrators support their educators, and it will be recorded and available to all those who register.

• Education Canada, January 2021 – Flipbook Edition

  January 26, 2021 10:05 PM Comments Off on Education Canada, January 2021 – Flipbook Edition

  Educational Equity in the COVID-19 Era

  Extraordinary times call for creative, resourceful solutions. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged educators, students and parents alike. It has also shone a spotlight on the inequities that made school closures and distance learning especially hard on some students and families, and raised new equity issues that must be addressed as we move forward. Researchers and innovative educators share their evolving knowledge, learnings and insights to create an ongoing conversation about how we can deliver equitable, high-quality education for all students through this pandemic and into the future.

  Web Exclusives:

  • Threads of Continuity
  • School Shutdowns
  • Teacher Expertise Is Key
  • “Does It Have to Be That Hard?”
  • Centring Equity in the COVID-19 Era
  • Opportunity Solving
  • Lessons Learned
  • Back to School: The First 30 Days
  • Redoing Gym Class

  Related EdCan Fact Sheets:

  • How can parents and teachers support elementary students as they learn from home during COVID-19?
  • How can Compassionate Systems Leadership embed SEL and well-being across an entire school district?
  • How can parents promote student well-being?

   

  Photo : Adobe Stock

• EdCan’s New Theory of Change

  January 25, 2021 11:33 PM Comments Off on EdCan’s New Theory of Change

  When the beginning of the pandemic closed schools and left district leaders like me in a constant state of disruption, I joined a small working group of EdCan Network staff and colleagues from our Advisory Council for an important virtual planning process. We engaged in a series of sessions to get to the heart of the impact that our Network can achieve to support K-12 educators across Canada. After many iterations, our creative team wholeheartedly endorsed the following three priorities to respond to the rapidly evolving opportunities and challenges that our education systems are currently facing:

  1. Increasing workplace well-being for K-12 staff, to make it a top policy and investment priority via our Well at Work initiative.
  2. Engaging and empowering students to lead societal change through meaningful learning and discovering their crucial role in solving local, regional, national, and global problems. Our upcoming awareness campaign on the potential for educating with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals will help to kickstart this focus.
  3. Equipping K-12 staff by informing them on emerging issues and actionable strategies to support the shift from knowledge to action. This magazine provides relevant and timely ways to support all our stakeholders as we rethink how we can “do education” in a better way for all students.

  These priorities were the focus of our virtual December 2020 EdCan Advisory Council Meeting. (The first ever gathering of the CEA was in 1891 in Montreal.) We will continue to explore how we can align our focus with supporting Ministries of Education, faculty, and school district leaders, principals, teachers, and staff throughout 2021 as we strive to increase the capacity, self-efficacy, and well-being of our 110,000 members, and through them, to heighten every student’s well-being and opportunities for meaningful learning to help them discover their purpose and path in life.

  

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  For more information about EdCan’s Theory of Change, Intended Impacts and Strategic Priorities, please visit: www.edcan.ca/aboutus

  For a list of the education and philanthropic leaders who serve on EdCan’s Advisory Council, please visit: www.edcan.ca/council

   

  First published in Education Canada, January 2021

• THE POWER OF US: How we connect, act, and innovate together

  4:29 PM Comments Off on THE POWER OF US: How we connect, act, and innovate together

  The Power of Us enters the pandemic publishing parade with a compelling message that is both challenging and hopeful. Change consultant and author David Price makes a strong case for unseating traditional hierarchical ways of organizing our businesses, schools, and community organizations. That’s the challenge. But the hope lies in Price’s illustrative efforts to show us where in the world it is already happening.

  The result of nearly three years of deep inquiry, The Power of Us draws us into a story of mass ingenuity, or what he refers to as people-powered innovation. Much more than just the sharing of ideas or organizing ourselves into cooperative clusters, it is the innovation that happens when groundswells of public activity, including inspiring examples of youth activism, meet up with organizations that understand and acknowledge that the traditional divisions between producer and consumer, artist and audience are quickly melting away. It’s what happens when companies start to see their users as co-creators, when the health-care sector starts to value highly invested patients as highly invested innovators, when schools begin to see their educators, parents, and students as co-learners, imbued with a sense of agency to make a difference outside the walls of the schoolhouse.

  Price examines many of the familiar themes of change literature – ethos, structure, mindset, and leadership – through the lens of people power, supported by some very robust and compelling case studies written from the author’s own commitment (pre-pandemic) to travelling the world to find the organizations, companies, and schools that were actually showing up to their work differently. The generous summary of key points and take-aways at the end of each section invites the reader to look at their own practice and their own organizations through the lens of people powered innovation.

  The COVID-19 pandemic forced David Price into rewrite mode, not because he was wrong, but because his ideas were so very right. COVID-19 is cast here, not as part of the scenery but as a main character, allowing The Power of Us to make a strong contribution to our rethinking of how we want to be in a post-pandemic world.

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  Photo: Dave Donald

  First published in Education Canada, January 2021

  Thread, 2020. ISBN: 9781800191181

• A New Year, a New Vision

  January 24, 2021 5:38 PM Comments Off on A New Year, a New Vision

  “Ring out the old, ring in the new,” goes Tennyson’s poem, “Ring Out Wild Bells.”

  Many of us were only too happy to ring out 2020, or maybe give it a firm boot out the door. With COVID-19 vaccines rolling out, we hope for a better year ahead.

  But what are we ringing in – the new and better, or the same old? After a year of disruption, the longing to return to the status quo is completely understandable. But if that’s all we do in our schools, it’s an opportunity lost. This year brought us many lessons, including wider awareness of the pervasiveness of systemic racism. We saw both the drawbacks and the potential of online learning, and we also saw how less privileged and higher-needs students suffered disproportionately from the loss of in-person classes. Some students became frustrated and disengaged – but others thrived as they became free to follow their own interests without the social stresses of a classroom. All these experiences and more should lead us to question just what school could and should be as we move beyond the COVID-19 Era.

  Through fall/winter 2020, and culminating in this magazine, we tracked the learning that was emerging from the struggle to adapt an education system to pandemic conditions and still provide quality, equitable education (read the whole series on our website). One standout for me was Vidya Shah’s article (p. 15) showing how we can (and why we must) work towards greater equity in education during and beyond the pandemic.

  It’s important to acknowledge the huge effort and serious stress that educators at every level of the system have shouldered during this crisis. But now we have a chance to look forward, to ring in the new. In our spring issue, EdCan will explore how the UN Sustainable Development Goals can be used to engage students with global and local issues and help them acquire essential competencies. And in June, we invite contributors to share their vision for the (near) future of education. How can we create a schooling experience that truly prepares today’s students to build tomorrow’s world?

  Photo: Adobe Stock

  First published in Education Canada, January 2021

  Write to us!

  We want to know what you think. Send your comments and article proposals to editor@edcan.ca – or join the conversation by using #EdCan on Twitter and Facebook.

   

• Pan-Canadian Supports for K-12 Workplace Wellbeing

  December 14, 2020 11:27 AM Comments Off on Pan-Canadian Supports for K-12 Workplace Wellbeing

  Canadian K-12 education stakeholders are increasingly concerned about the mental health and wellbeing of education staff. Rising rates of staff stress and burnout threaten to undermine student wellbeing and educational outcomes, while the legal, financial, and human resource costs continue to escalate.

  The McConnell Foundation has been supporting workplace wellbeing in K-12 education through its WellAhead initiative since 2017. In early 2020, it brought together relevant thought-leaders to consider how to make measurable improvements in the wellbeing of K-12 education staff across Canada. A Design Team was formed to develop a preliminary concept based on that initial thinking.¹ The Design Team then engaged with education stakeholders to get their feedback on the concept, and learn from their experience.

  The stakeholders who participated generously shared their time, expertise, and encouragement, including pitfalls to avoid, opportunities to strengthen the approaches, and perspectives that had not previously been considered. Their feedback contributes to developing approaches that fit their environments, and accurately reflect their needs and preferences — which will ultimately lead to a greater impact. 

  Based on the insights generated in this consultation report, EdCan plans to implement a revised set of approaches over the next three years with a wide variety of partners and stakeholders. Stay tuned for more details! 

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  ¹Charlie Naylor (Independent Consultant), Felicia Ochs (Wellness Coordinator, Parkland School Division), André Rebeiz (Research Manager, EdCan), Tammy Shubat (Director of Programs, Ophea), and Kim Weatherby (School Health Promotion Consultant).

• School Shutdowns

  December 8, 2020 9:23 AM Comments Off on School Shutdowns

  When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, pandemic emergency response plans embraced a singular education strategy – close all K–12 schools and default to hastily assembled, and largely untested, “home learning” programs. Nine months into the pandemic, public health authorities, ministries of education, and school superintendents are singing a different tune: keeping students in school is the first priority as we prepare to ride out the second wave of viral infections.

  All of us are far more acutely aware of the accumulating academic, human, and social costs of shutting down schools, which fall unevenly upon children and teens in the most disadvantaged communities. Combating the relentless virus and keeping regional economies intact will not likely be greatly advanced through system-wide shutdowns.

  With COVID-19 infection rates spiking again, school closures are becoming a distinct possibility, if only as a temporary respite for shaken-up students, fatigued teachers, and bewildered parents. Setting a relatively low infection positivity number, such as the three percent figure applied in closing New York City schools, is unwise because, by that standard, all schools will ultimately close at some point this school year.

  What’s emerging is a “flexible response” doctrine that embraces a fuller arsenal of strategies and borrows the phrase popularized by former U.S. Secretary of State Robert McNamara in the early 1960s. Banishing the devastating pandemic requires a carefully considered set of options and a calibrated range of responses.

  Let’s review some of the far more effective, targeted strategies:

  Isolating cases and suspending exposed classes

  A case-by-case isolation strategy in provinces and districts with lower transmission rates has proven reasonably effective, as long as the public health system can sustain contact tracing and isolate children and staff who have COVID-19 exposures. It was working, up until now, in most provinces covered by the Atlantic Bubble. Implementation challenges are compromising its effectiveness in Ontario, where the numbers of infections exceed the current capacity for contact tracing.

  Short, time-limited school closures

  Extending school holidays is emerging as the most expedient way of applying an education “circuit breaker.” Starting the Christmas holidays early, as in Quebec and Alberta, and extending the break into January 2021, as in Manitoba, are the latest “quick fixes” gaining traction right across Canada. It’s much easier to extend school holiday time because that policy response resonates with teachers and education support workers, and is more minimally disruptive for working parents. Policymakers often opt for the path of least resistance.

  Dual track-student choice model

  Giving students and families the choice of completing courses in-person or online was implemented in Ontario and it caused an array of unanticipated, disruptive, and unpredictable consequences. Students and parents in more affluent school districts in the TDSB chose in-person schooling, while online enrolment was highest in the district’s poorest and most racialized communities. School schedules were constantly changing as students bailed out of in-person classes, generating unexpected demand for online courses. Hundreds of thousands of students in Toronto, Peel, and York Region have shifted online, rendering the two-track strategy essentially unsustainable over the longer term.

  Mixed in-person and virtual hybrid blended learning model

  Moving to a hybrid blended learning model on a so-called “rotation system” is a response full of implementation bugs. Some Ontario school districts have resorted to dual track delivery models with classes combining in-person and video-streamed classes. That’s far from ideal because effective online teaching requires its own approach, not just televising in-class lessons. Since September 2020, New Brunswick has implemented a Hybrid Blended Learning Model with alternating days in all high schools, with decidedly mixed results. Curriculum coverage suffers, with losses estimated at up to 30 percent of learning outcomes, and student participation rates are reportedly low during the hybrid off days in the checkerboard high-school schedule.

  Defaulting to virtual home learning in upper grades

  Suspending in-person schooling and reverting to virtual or online home learning is an implementable option, only if it applies to all classes in Grades 7 to 12. Splitting larger classes in urban or suburban school zones is prohibitively expensive without significant hikes in provincial spending. That explains why so many school districts resort to shifting everyone to online classes. Younger children benefit more from teacher-guided instruction and do not spread the virus as readily, judging from K–6 in-person classes in Denmark and British Columbia.

  Closing all schools should be the last resort this time around. That’s the consensus among leading British, Canadian, and American pediatricians and epidemiologists. Sending kids home should only be considered if positivity rates spike in schools. It’s an easy decision if and when transmission rates turn schools into vectors and staff infection rates make it impossible to provide a reasonable quality of education.

  Resurgent rates of infection and community transmission in October and November have called into question some of the previous assumptions about the limited COVID-19 risks in schools. One recent research summary in Science Magazine painted “a more complex picture” of the very real risks and of the critical need to be flexible and responsive in the face of a rapidly changing, unpredictable public health crisis. There’s no perfect solution, but adopting a “flexible response” strategy, attuned to regional and local pandemic conditions, still makes the most sense.

  Photo: Adobe Stock

• WEBINAR: Leading Schools in the COVID19 Era: What have we learned so far?

  October 8, 2020 12:28 PM Comments Off on WEBINAR: Leading Schools in the COVID19 Era: What have we learned so far?

  Watch the full webinar below:

  This webinar is primarily for governments, education professional organizations, school and school district leaders, teachers and education support workers, and anyone interested in understanding current issues for changes to K-12 schooling for the education sector across Canada in the COVID-19 era.

  This webinar broadcasted on October 7th, 2020 explores what has been learned so far about leading schools through COVID-19 as we prepare to enter into our second month of school reopening across the country.

  Topics explored include:

  • how our understandings of the work of school leaders is evolving;

  • the ways in which educators and their professional organizations are navigating ever-changing expectations of schooling during the present time; and

  • how schools can maintain a focus on the social justice and equity issues that have been laid bare as a result of COVID-19 and its impact on marginalized and racialized communities.

  Note: EdCan is a neutral third-party intermediary organization. Live presentations do not constitute an endorsement by the EdCan Network/CEA of information or opinions expressed.

• WEBINAR PANEL DISCUSSION: October 7, 2020

  October 1, 2020 12:47 PM Comments Off on WEBINAR PANEL DISCUSSION: October 7, 2020

  WHEN: wednesday, OCTOBER 7 at 1:00-2:00 pm (EST) 

  

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  This webinar is primarily for governments, education professional organizations, school and school district leaders, teachers and education support workers, and anyone interested in understanding current issues for changes to K-12 schooling for the education sector across Canada in the COVID-19 era.

  This webinar explores what has been learned so far about leading schools through COVID-19 as we prepare to enter into our second month of school reopening across the country.

  Topics to be explored include:

  • how our understandings of the work of school leaders is evolving;

  • the ways in which educators and their professional organizations are navigating ever-changing expectations of schooling during the present time; and

  • how schools can maintain a focus on the social justice and equity issues that have been laid bare as a result of COVID-19 and its impact on marginalized and racialized communities.

  Register Here

  Note: EdCan is a neutral third-party intermediary organization. Live presentations do not constitute an endorsement by the EdCan Network/CEA of information or opinions expressed.

• Sexual and Gender Minorities in Canadian Schools

  September 29, 2020 11:29 AM Comments Off on Sexual and Gender Minorities in Canadian Schools

  

  I still live with hurtful memories of being a timid and apprehensive gay boy who was bullied mercilessly and suffered immense mental anguish during junior and senior high school. I was subjected to incessant name calling and targeted by packs of boys on school buses and school grounds. Later, as a teacher, I was perpetually in fear of being outed as gay and losing my job. I dealt with unrelenting stressors, like finding pictures of naked men left under wiper blades on my car windshield in the school parking lot. These indelible memories are my impetus for wanting to make life better now for sexual and gender minorities (SGMs or LGBTQ2+ persons) in our schools. In Canada today, there is an established basis for doing this, bolstered by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Vriend v. Alberta in 1998, which granted equality rights to sexual minority Canadians, there have been continuous changes in law, legislation, and educational policy that have abetted recognizing and accommodating SGMs in school culture and curriculum. More recently, Bill C-16, An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, which became law in 2017, provided gender minorities with protection against discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and expression.

  With such movement forward, what is it like for SGMs to have SGM-specific policy in place in our schools as social spaces where students learn and teachers work? I took up this question in research¹ I conducted in a large urban school district in western Canada that had had a standalone SGM policy, rather than merely an umbrella or general equity policy, in place for five years. Having SGM-specific policy is far from the norm in school districts in our country, so I interviewed key interest groups that included students and teachers to learn about their experiences. Students were asked to discuss everyday stressors and supports as they talked about school culture, climate, curriculum, principals, and teachers. Teachers were asked to discuss the importance of having SGM policy and practice that impact the recognition, accommodation, and well-being of SGMs. Here, I share some of their perspectives.

  Students’ perspectives: What teachers do matters

  The high-school students I interviewed commonly spoke about the need to educate others about SGMs and our issues and concerns. One student who was president of his high-school GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance or Gender-Sexuality Alliance) spoke pragmatically about this:

  “I think having more education would be helpful because when people are uneducated, they don’t like what they don’t understand or what they don’t perceive to be normal. I think having education is a really big aspect. Incorporating LGBTQ+ case studies into courses would be really helpful.”

  Another high-school student spoke about her former faith-based school where sexual orientation was still a taboo topic. She related, “It was never spoken about. There were no comments on it, and anything you did to try to bring it up, they’d put you down.” She spoke positively about the SGM-inclusive culture in her current school, stating, “I find it very welcoming. You see same-sex couples in the hallway, and there’s nothing – nobody blinks an eye.” She spoke about the teachers, saying, “One of my friends had a teacher who used their preferred pronouns and names. So that’s one teacher I know who’s very accepting. I’m pretty sure there are multiple other teachers who would as well. On the first day, they read off the attendance list and, of course, that’s your legal name. But if you ask, there are multiple teachers who will use the student’s preferred name and pronouns.” Another high school student also spoke about the naming issue, using an example to indicate how students can be negatively impacted in a public way: “One thing that sucks is for Valentine’s Day, they do the hearts. They write everyone’s name on a heart and put them in the lunchroom downstairs. But because they use the attendance list to do it, it’s birth names and legal names. So that can cause anxiety.” One trans-identified student who uses he/him pronouns provided this particular concern regarding naming and roll call. He recounted, “A big issue that you need to work with is substitute teachers. My legal name and the name that I go by are not the same, so I always need to talk to the substitutes ahead of time. That’s a bit stressful. Sometimes they forget. They always try, but you can’t remember everything.” Regarding his teachers in general, this student pondered, “I wish there was some way for the teachers to understand how significant it is to respect pronouns and labels and titles because I feel like some of them don’t understand some of the consequences. The first few times don’t bother you that much, but the more it happens, the more it bothers you. Most of my teachers don’t seem to understand how much it affects me. It makes me feel crappy.” Like other students I interviewed, this student spoke about the need to educate teachers:

  “I feel because teachers are directly interacting with and impacting queer youth, it should be part of training them on a PD day or something, just to take a crash course on understanding. I don’t know if those things do happen or what the situation is with that. I just wish in general that people knew more about us and just the facts and less of the perceptions. I don’t know specifically what would be available to them, though. I do wish there was more information that was commonly known. Overall, I think our teachers are pretty supportive – some more than others – just because they’re more educated on everything. And some really try to learn with you, which is helpful. They want you to tell them stuff that they don’t know. There’s still a lot of improvements that can be made, a lot more information that can be shared. With more knowledge, there’s less misunderstanding, there’s less judgment, and everybody can just live together more peacefully and not be angry at each other or confused.”

  Teachers’ perspectives: Knowing school culture, being an advocate

  Supportive teachers I interviewed saw schools as social spaces where they engaged in strategic actions to advance SGM inclusion. One high-school teacher provided this perspective on what constituted an SGM-inclusive culture in her school:

  “The school is very welcoming and comprehensive in terms of how staff accept students and how students themselves are perceived around the school. There isn’t a lot of discussion that we have to do because the SGM policy dictates behaviour. It’s more about creating a culture: We’ll do it because that’s what people do. This results in fewer students seeking out the GSA on a regular basis because the culture of the school itself is so open and accepting that everywhere is a safe place. The school encounters zero parent resistance to pink shirt day and other GSA events. The administration is very vocally supportive of the students wherever they are in their identity journey. They want to put those students first, ahead of any reservations of parents or complaints from community members. Everyone realizes that comfort is not covered under our provincial human rights legislation, but lack of discrimination and the ability to exist in your identity are covered.”

  Of course, creating a genuinely accepting SGM-inclusive school culture takes time. Another high school teacher spoke about his GSA work to help non-heterosexual boys become more comfortable with their sexual identities: “In the GSA, it’s always more girls than guys – substantially. It’s probably 80 percent girls and 20 percent boys, if not lower. I’ve talked to other GSA teachers, and they’ve seen the same thing. Many times, I’ve heard girls say that they felt safe. I haven’t really heard a boy commenting either way. Maybe that’s why fewer boys come to the GSA meeting. There generally is more of a stigma for them, especially in high schools.” Paralleling this perspective on non-heterosexual boys’ discomfort, another high school teacher provided this observation: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any boys holding hands, but I’ve seen lots more girls holding hands – girlfriends. That’s now just as okay as heterosexual couples walking down the hallway.” A junior high school teacher offered a similar perspective, indicating it is not just a high-school issue: “The girls seem to be far more comfortable at the junior high age for sure compared to the boys. Absolutely, I don’t think boys are quite there yet at this stage, which is sad. It’s unfortunate.”

  Many teachers spoke to the importance of having a standalone school district policy on sexual orientation and gender identity to fortify the work to create an SGM-inclusive school culture. In this regard, one teacher working in an all-grades setting provided her perspective on living out this policy in word and action:

  “It’s about a district level of support that starts with leadership. It’s about letting all staff know that it’s about not having prejudice and discrimination based on a student’s perceived or actual sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s about being appropriate with our responses as a staff if we encounter that, whether it’s in behaviours, comments, or the actions of other students. But it goes so much deeper. It’s in the way you would group students, in washroom use and locker use, in language use in the classroom, and in resources and approaches. So, it’s really helpful in building on safe and caring schools. It gives us something to work toward so we’re all consistent. We have a policy and we have the support of our district to continue to do that.”

  In sum, teachers provided an array of reasons why a standalone SGM policy is a good thing. One high-school teacher saw it as assurance enabling SGM inclusion when teachers couldn’t rely on the school principal. He concluded, “Putting a policy on this was a good thing because you’re not always going to have an understanding administrator, a forward-thinking administrator.” A junior high school teacher felt the policy enabled him to start a GSA, which subsequently contributed to more SGM inclusion in his school. He said, “I’ve had students say how much better it is in the school since we started the GSA. I used to hear students say, ‘That’s so gay’ – constantly. I can’t even remember the last time I had to say something to a student about that. It’s just known that that’s not acceptable to do anymore. Those sorts of things to do with language and what’s acceptable in schools – I think a lot of that has to do with the policy.”

  A standalone SGM policy that is consistently implemented… is a clear indicator that a school district has the backs of SGM teachers and allied teachers.

  Considering whether the standalone policy made a difference for teachers in her district, a teacher working in a K-12 school responded, “I think by our surety that we’ve got our backs covered, that makes us stronger in what we’re trying to achieve.” She also saw the policy as effective in assisting SGM students who require basic accommodation that includes having their physical needs met: “I know last year, one student would go home to go to the bathroom. Of course, they wouldn’t come back. Washroom access is something so simple and so painful at the same time.”

  Supporting SGM teachers, creating an SGM-inclusive school

  Increasingly today, young SGM teachers choose to be vocal and visible at work, which is enabled when there is policy in place to protect them. However, many SGM teachers in our country still navigate homophobia and transphobia in their schools. Their challenges and concerns are well documented in The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ Inclusive Education in Canada’s K-12 Schools.²

  Importantly, a gay junior high school teacher spoke about the significance of having the policy in terms of SGM teacher welfare:

  “I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s awesome. When it got put in place in our school district, it just seemed quite far advanced from where the rest of the province was. Just being able to know you’ve got the backing of the board is huge. Knowing that you can go in and ask these questions and do these things and not be petrified is massive. Not that it ever felt like there was a lot of homophobia in my district. I know people have encountered pockets of it here and there. I know of some horror stories, but I came out in my second year as a teacher. It was never a big deal, but it’s still nice to know that the board has your back.”

  Indeed, having a standalone SGM policy that is consistently implemented and periodically reviewed is a clear indicator that a school district has the backs of SGM teachers and allied teachers engaged in SGM-inclusive work. Such specific policy can nurture an SGM-positive school culture and encourage principals to lead the way in being there for SGM students and teachers. In the end, policy is protection and its purposeful implementation is true recognition and accommodation of SGM students and teachers.

  In terms of being there for SGM teachers, here are three constructive ways to be accommodative: First, show support. Notably, having strong support from school leaders can create a more open dialogue and space whereby SGM teachers feel safe to deliver and engage in SGM-inclusive education. Second, develop inclusive workplace policies. At the school district level, standalone anti-homophobia and anti-transphobia policies covering SGM staff and students – rather than generic equity policy – should stand alongside workplace harassment policies and be implemented to protect and support SGM staff. Third, create a professional and/or informal network. SGM teachers within the district can form a professional GSA where they meet to share their experiences, learn from one another, and develop trusting and supportive professional relationships.

  As well, teachers – including SGM teachers needing mentors – students, principals, and parents can learn from the good work that openly LGBTQ+ educators do. Here is an excerpt from an interview I conducted with an openly gay elementary school principal in the school district who spoke about his work to be a change agent and advocate in his school:

  “What do I do at my school? Certainly, we have our safe-contact teachers identified. We also have the safe and caring rainbow stickers. There’s one right as you enter the school, and there’s one on my office door, my assistant principal’s door, and on the classroom doors of the safe contact teachers and other supportive teachers. I’ve had many conversations with my parent council around the work we’re doing in order to have their support for the SOGI [sexual orientation and gender identity] work in our school. Our library collection is also growing as we find more and more stories that depict the LGBTQ+ youth and their families and same-sex families. I also have conversations with my staff about heteronormativity, the gender spectrum, and the language we use with students. So, is it working? I certainly know that my staff is very aware. Also, my sexuality is not hidden from my staff, so my staff know who I am. I also let them know that my partner is male and he’s a grade one teacher. I do it because I want them to know that I believe in the normalization of sexuality and gender in our schools, that it is no big deal. It is just who we are.”

   

  Illustration: Diana Pham

  First published in Education Canada, September 2020

  Notes

  1 The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded this research.

  2 C. Taylor, T. Peter, C. Campbell, et al., The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ-inclusive Education in Canada’s K-12 Schools: Final report (Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Teachers’ Society, 2015). http://egale.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Every-Teacher-Project-Final-Report-WEB.pdf

• Addressing Racism in the K-12 Workplace

  11:25 AM Comments Off on Addressing Racism in the K-12 Workplace

  

  Students have been subject to some of the most egregious and gross forms of racism that no one should ever experience, much less a child. In Ontario, two fairly recent examples of racist violence that students face have been documented in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and the Peel District School Board. On June 15, 2020, the CBC reported that Anne Stewart,¹ a teacher at Notre Dame Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario, used the N-word in class while teaching students. Stewart was reported to the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT), which concluded that the teacher had indeed used the N-word. However, Stewart only received a verbal reprimand and her case was not sent to the OCT’s discipline committee. The second case worth mentioning happened in 2016, when staff at an elementary school in the Peel District School Board called in the Peel Regional Police to address a situation where a six-year-old Black female student was in mental distress. The two white officers who arrived proceeded to shackle the hands and feet² of the little girl. She remained shackled and placed on her stomach for 28 minutes. The case was referred to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and, in 2020, the Tribunal ruled that the girl’s human rights were violated and that race was a factor in the way the police responded.

  What we must understand is that both of these cases were traumatizing events for the students involved; they will likely require mental health support for a long time as a result of the racial trauma they experienced. The same can probably be said about the many students who have also come to be aware of too many of these stories in which Black and racialized students, friends and family, experience racist violence in the school system. Students and their families are also re-traumatized when they find out that those who committed these racist acts are rarely held accountable for their actions.

  Since school districts are in the business of serving students, we can understand why we need to address these issues so that students can have the opportunity to be successful and not be under the threat of racial violence when they are expected to be learning and getting an education. But there’s another part to this conversation that often does not get the attention it deserves: the racism that Black, Indigenous and racialized staff experience in school districts across the country. The system of anti-Black racism that Black students are fighting against and resisting is the same anti-Black racism that Black staff have to contend with and navigate while they are expected to be teaching at a high level. A report titled The Voices of Ontario Black Educators, covered by the Toronto Star in 2015,³ stated that one-third of the Black teachers, principals and vice-principals who participated in the study indicated they were passed over for promotions because they were Black, 27 percent indicated that racism at work impacts their day-to-day work life, and 51 percent believed anti-Black racism impacts who gets promoted.

  School districts that want to take up the work of dismantling systemic racism to enhance student success and address the disparity in student outcomes must also address and dismantle the racism that Black and racialized educators are experiencing in the K-12 workplace. This can only be done by taking a comprehensive approach to staff mental health and well-being, and by drawing the connection between systemic racism, racism and anti-Black racism in the workplace and well-being in the workplace. The premise of this discussion must be that our education system, and by extension our school districts, are all inherently racist and anti-Black. The conversation should not be about, “Is racism operating in our school district?” The evidence and research detailing a variety of ways that racism and anti-Black racism impacts the education system is too strong and comprehensive for us to still be looking for more proof to establish its existence. The conversation must be about, “How we can gain a better understanding of how racism is operating in our sector or school district so that we can address the disparities that Black and racialized staff are experiencing?”

  It is important to note that although all racialized groups experience racism, not all racialized groups experience racism in the same way. When we examine outcome data, what we clearly see is that anti-Black racism and anti-Indigenous racism, across all sectors, produce the most significant negative outcomes among non-white populations. Disaggregated race-based outcome data is what should drive where and how school districts focus their attention and resources when doing anti-racism work. Anti-Black racism and systemic racism is a deeply entrenched problem in the education sector across the country, which has roots in the legacy of enslaved people in Canada.⁴ This is a very important point, because it is through a comprehensive understanding of colonialism and Canada’s participation and relationship with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, that you will understand how all of our major institutions, laws, social norms and such have been built on this foundation and reflected in present-day realities. However, as serious as the problem is, it is not readily understood in terms of its impact on stress, anxiety, trauma and overall well-being in the workplace. If school districts are serious about addressing anti-Black racism and systemic racism, then they must see it as one of the most pressing mental health challenges of our time that requires concentrated effort, attention and resources if our schools, classrooms and workplaces are to be safe and nurturing work and learning environments.

  Research indicates that teacher stress is directly linked to student performance and effective class management strategies. Teachers who are under chronic stress have been shown to have less effective classroom management,⁵ lack clear teaching instruction for students and have a lower ability to create safe and nurturing classrooms for all of their students. Research also shows that teachers who view and experience the demands and stress of teaching as outweighing the resources and support provided to them, are less likely than their peers with lower levels of stress to say they would still choose teaching if they had the chance to choose their career again.

  Now, imagine you layer the stress and anxiety that comes with managing a classroom with the stress, anxiety and trauma caused by anti-Black racism and systemic racism that Black and racialized educators experience in the workplace. Racial violence can lead to racial trauma. Dr. Erangler Turner defines racial trauma as “experiencing symptoms such as anxiety, hyper-vigilance to threat or lack of hopefulness for your future as a result of exposure to racism or discrimination.” The impact of racial trauma shows up not only as anxiety and stress but also as depression, low self-esteem, poor concentration and irritability.⁶ Research on racial trauma also indicates that as a result of anti-Black racism, Black people experience less sense of control over their own lives, as well as internalized racism and avoidance of valued action. Chronic stress related to anti-Black racism predisposes Black people to a variety of health problems, including memory impairment, neural atrophy and heart disease. Some research has also pointed out that anxiety can be more persistent among Black people compared to their non-Black counterparts, which researchers attribute to the intensity of anti-Black racism. The impact of anti-Black racism and racism in the workplace also has negative physical impacts on Black and racialized staff. Most notable is that chronic and prolonged stress related to racism can lead the body to release high levels of cortisol, which can impair the body’s ability to reduce inflammation. This in turn can impair the body’s ability to heal. This is what Black, Indigenous and racialized educators are having to contend with in the workplace, and much of these negative mental health and well-being outcomes are directly connected to school districts’ refusal to see racism as a mental health and well-being issue, along with their inability to effectively address racism for both staff and students.

  Anti-racism is integral to staff well-being

  Most school districts have some form of well-being plan. This might include a paid staff role that is responsible for coordinating and rolling out mental health and well-being programs and initiatives. There may also be a well-being committee made up of staff who help to direct the school district’s well-being initiatives.

  Although many staff well-being initiatives have value and help to improve the mental health and well-being of educators, the fact is that the vast majority of these programs take a race-neutral approach. Racism tends to not be factored into program design, and this type of approach only serves to further entrench anti-Black racism and other forms of racism in the workplace. By making anti-racism work a central feature of mental health and well-being plans, school districts will be centering the voices of those most vulnerable in the system and keeping the conversation about racism in the workplace at the forefront. These are both seen as best practices when doing anti-racism work.

  It is well established that better mental health leads to positive outcomes for organizations. When educators experience high levels of well-being and low levels of stress, this not only results in higher student well-being and educational outcomes, but it also improves:

  • employee productivity
  • employee health behaviours
  • rates of absenteeism
  • recruitment and retention efforts.

  School districts may roll out a variety of services and training opportunities, such as benefits programs that provide health supports like mental health counselling, massage or physiotherapy, or workshops that help educators communicate better, create a healthy work-life balance, and so on. From a mental health and well-being perspective, these initiatives are important and have value. They can and do have a positive impact on staff mental health and well-being. However, the problem with looking at workplace well-being solely through this lens is that it puts the onus of well-being on the staff, which fuels the idea that if staff can just learn a new skill or develop better coping mechanisms, then they can achieve optimal mental health and well-being. This approach lets school districts off the hook.

  Anti-Black racism is systemic and operates in every aspect of school districts’ operations, policies and programs. This can and does have a detrimental impact on Black and racialized staff. If your plan to disrupt racism in the workplace is to essentially develop programs that aim to help Black and non-white staff deal more effectively with their oppression, then you do not have much of a plan! (See “Anti-Racism Basics” below.) School districts that take this approach are complicit and perpetuate racist violence against Black and non-white staff; the onus of disrupting anti-Black racism in our K-12 workplaces falls on the shoulders of school district leadership. It is also not enough for districts to devise ways to address the racism that students face while neglecting to turn their attention towards how Black and racialized staff are also impacted by racism. All students can see the racial hierarchy of school settings, where Black and racialized educators are scarcely in positions of leadership such as principal and vice-principal. They can see what bodies are in positions of leadership, they can see what bodies are not in leadership roles, and they can see what bodies are less present overall in school spaces. They can see what bodies are valued and what bodies are not.

  If school districts are serious about staff well-being in the K-12 workplace and truly desire to have better student outcomes, then they must see anti-racism work as mental health and well-being work. School districts’ anti-racism work must include both staff and students. It is clear that when staff have lower stress and anxiety levels, they perform better as educators, which leads to better student outcomes. But workplace racism inflicts an additional level of stress, anxiety and racial trauma on Black, Indigenous and racialized staff. We know that racism and anti-Black racism has significant mental, emotional and physiological impacts on Black and other non-white educators in the workplace. This additional “tax” can and does lead to teacher performance being negatively impacted, which ultimately will impact student outcomes. Only a systemic approach to doing anti-racism work (that includes the needs of both students and staff, frames anti-racism work as a mental health and workplace well-being issue, and includes accountability) will turn our schools and districts into spaces where learning can happen and where Black and non-white staff can bring their whole selves to work – without having to shoulder the weight of systemic and anti-Black racism.

  Illustration: Diana Pham

  First published in Education Canada, September 2020

  Anti-Racism Basics

  A comprehensive discussion of effective anti-racism programs for school districts would require a whole other article. But as a starting place, they should feature:

  • Acknowledgment that our school systems are inherently racist due to the legacy of colonialism and slavery. We also have mounds of data and research that prove that anti-Black racism and systemic racism is a problem in education, and that it has significant impact on Black staff and student mental health. If we don’t acknowledge the problem that racism exists, how will know what problem we are trying to solve?

  • Community Partnership and Community Leadership Any efforts by school districts to do anti-racism work and disrupt anti-Black racism must be done with community, staff and student partnership. The voices of those most impacted must have a leadership role in developing the solutions.

  • Accountability Any plan to address systemic and anti-Black racism that does not have accountability measures is grossly incomplete. School districts that take anti-racism work seriously must have accountability measures in place for the district as a system and for racist behaviours when committed by staff.

  • Disaggregated Race-Based Data Collection Any anti-racism work, strategy or plan should be informed by disaggregated race-based data. The collection methodology and analysis of the data must be done by those who have expertise utilizing an anti-racism intersectional lens.

  • Transparent Monitoring and Reporting All policies, programs and initiatives must have a transparent process and transparent reporting mechanism. The community and staff need to know, clearly, what work the organization has committed to, what impact it has had and what the challenges have been.

  • Policy Development and Implementation To support the needed structural change to disrupt and dismantle anti-Black racism and systemic racism, the necessary policies need to be put in place. This helps to ensure that as staff change roles and new officials are elected, the work does not stop. Additionally, all existing new policies should be reviewed and developed using an anti-racism and anti-Black racism lens.

  Notes

  1 Shanifa Nasser, “High school teacher who used N-word in class allowed to keep working after apologizing,” CBC News (June 15, 2020). www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/brampton-teacher-notre-dame-n-word-1.5607961

  2 “Race was a factor in handcuffing of 6-year-old black girl in Mississauga school, tribunal says,” CBC News (March 3, 2020). www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/human-rights-tribunal-peel-police-girl-handcuffed-1.5483456

  3 Louise Brown, “Black teachers still face racism on the job in Ontario,” Toronto Star (May 29, 2015). www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2015/05/29/black-teachers-still-face-racism-on-the-job-in-ontario.html

  4 Natasha Henry, Anti-Black Racism in Ontario Schools: A historical perspective (Turner Consulting Group Inc., Research and Policy Brief No. 1, May 2019). www.turnerconsultinggroup.ca/uploads/2/9/5/6/29562979/policy_brief_-_no_1_may_2019.pdf

  5 Sarah D. Sparks, “How Teachers’ Stress Affects Students: A research roundup,” Education Week – Teacher (June 7, 2017). www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/06/07/how-teachers-stress-affects-students-a-research.html

  6 Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez, “The Little-Known Health Effect of Racial Trauma,” The Cut (June 7, 2017). www.thecut.com/2017/06/the-little-understood-mental-health-effects-of-racial-trauma.html

• Live Well

  11:18 AM Comments Off on Live Well

  A rural school division in Northwest Saskatchewan is not immune to the rising trend of burnout and mental health issues in educators. In response to this growing concern, Northwest School Division (NWSD) administration created a team to support and promote staff wellness that included teachers and school support staff, as well as a division councillor and members of the senior administration. Understanding that wellness can mean different things to different people, the team took a holistic approach in encouraging staff members to be well. While we recognized that many of the systemic issues that lead to burnout would not be solved through individual efforts, there was an opportunity to support the personal wellness of staff and build a sense of community around well-being.

  The Live Well campaign was launched in December 2018, with a mission of “promoting and supporting physical, mental and spiritual wellness for all members of #teamNWSD.”

  First steps

  A symbol: To kickstart the program, each staff member was given a blue NWSD Live Well bracelet: a symbolic reminder of both their goals and the support within the division to accomplish those goals. Our belief structure established that “to Live Well can mean something different to each person, as we are all on different wellness journeys.” The bracelet highlighted the fact that, in a variety of ways, individuals are making wellness a priority in their lives.

  Live Well Journal: In addition to the bracelets, each staff member was provided with a Live Well journal to chart their progress, collect their thoughts and highlight their successes. The journal served as a concrete tool to share information about the challenges and help staff to plan their personal journeys. The outline of the year for the Live Well campaign was colourfully articulated and information about each monthly theme was presented. Having a vibrant journal that employees could have in their hands and easily take with them underscored the idea that wellness is something that you can personally interact with on a daily basis. Our Live Well team knew we were on the right track with this concept when we could spot the dog-eared journals on staff desks in buildings all across our division.

  My Wellness Goals: The first Live Well activity was titled “My Wellness Goals.” Each employee was encouraged create three personal wellness goals for the year. The goals did not need to be shared publicly and staff could consider physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions. Participants, with the aim of further committing to Live Well, had the opportunity to share with the team that they did create three personal wellness goals. The goals served as the foundation of a personal journey throughout the year.

  The challenges

  As the year unfolded, staff members had the opportunity to be involved in a number of challenges that coincided with monthly themes. Each month of the school year had a designated theme and challenge, and a fitting prize as an extra incentive for individuals and staffs to join in the fun. The month of September, for example, started with the theme of “Get Moving” and included a step challenge as well as a virtual run. There was a buzz in the air as people set their own goal and guessed at what the winning step total might be. Mini staff competitions cropped up, and groups started coordinating their lunch hours around getting in their daily steps. We started to see staff connections and camaraderie building around the Live Well program.

  December’s theme was “Stress Management,” and in addition to encouraging employees to reflect on how they planned to manage stress, we held three wellness fairs throughout the division at which employees could enjoy massage, yoga, meditation and healthy snacks. The fairs were a welcome reprieve at a stressful time when there were many school events to wrap up before the holiday break. They also served as an opportunity to both support and thank staff members for their commitment to students. In January, the “Active Living” theme was highlighted with the Wellness BINGO. The challenge was done on an individual and staff level, with participants having the opportunity to complete tasks in the squares to fill in their BINGO card. This contest was the ultimate team challenge and created an exciting energy as people encouraged their colleagues to fill in squares and worked to stay ahead of schools and offices down the road.

  Our team purposefully tried to keep the barrier to entry low and create challenges that focused on different areas of wellness to engage a variety of different staff members. Staff that may not have connected with the virtual run might have a good book or healthy recipe to recommend, or a hobby they found stress relief in. Each month we have been able to engage different groups of people.

  Energy and connection

  A critical goal of the Live Well campaign was to bring staff members together. In our rural Saskatchewan context, togetherness is accomplished in creative ways. As such, each challenge included a requirement or encouragement to share individual or team accomplishments on social media. The school division’s Twitter feed was filled throughout the year with examples of people being well. In addition to the entertainment that comes with seeing what colleagues were up to, the presence on social media also reinforced the idea that “If my friends and colleagues can be well, I can too.” Our communities started to take notice and it was clear they saw the value in promoting staff wellness. Many local organizations and businesses reached out and asked how they could support us. A surprise benefit for the leadership team was the stories from staff who felt inspired by the activities we were doing and used that as the impetus for creating their own staff and school challenges. The small seed we planted grew far beyond what we ever could have expected.

  Well together

  We recognize the diversity and complexity of individual wellness for staff members in the field of education, and the reality that a challenge-based approach to staff wellness is only one of a multitude of factors that contribute to individual wellness. Still, we are encouraged that the Live Well campaign has allowed us to make some difference. Through the Live Well campaign, the school division has had the opportunity to communicate clearly that staff wellness matters. Live Well allows people to try new things that they may not have otherwise chosen to do. Perhaps most of all, the Live Well campaign supports the feeling that if we are going to be truly well, we will do it by being well together.

   

  All Photos: courtesy of the authors

  First published in Education Canada, September 2020

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