Across Canada, education employees are expressing concerns around student behaviour. Behavioural incidents exist on a spectrum from disruptive to violent and aggressive, with educators reporting a sharp uptick in the frequency and severity of violent and aggressive behaviours. Behavioural incidents are creating stress and adding to the workloads of educators, and are disrupting the learning environment for other students, directly impacting their learning outcomes. In the vast majority of cases, students are acting out because they lack the skill to behave in more productive ways.
There is an urgent need to identify and share promising strategies for promoting positive student behaviours, de-escalating and responding to incidents as they happen, and for supporting students and staff following an incident.
The EdCan Network is convening a national working group of researchers and education professionals from across Canada to share promising practices and emerging research on supporting positive student behaviour and responding to behavioural incidents. By supporting proactive and preventative approaches and by responding effectively to incidents, we can reduce severe outcomes of complex and high-risk behaviours in schools.
The goals of this working group are to:
- Deepen collective expertise around effective, evidence-informed approaches for supporting student behaviour.
- Identify existing resources, measurement strategies, and research that can be shared widely with educators across Canada.
- Share case studies of promising approaches to support student behaviour.
- Inform the development of a toolkit to support educators in implementing effective approaches to supporting student behaviour at the classroom, school, and school district level.
This working group will consist of approximately 12 education professionals and researchers from across Canadian school jurisdictions, who have professional expertise in student behaviour management.
The working group will meet virtually for one hour per month from September 2025 until May 2026. All dates will be scheduled in advance. Members of the working group are expected to attend all meetings.
Interested in participating? Email Kathleen Lane, Executive Director of the EdCan Network with your interest and a brief description of your background.
