Creating Safe and Caring Learning Communities
A Canadian Approach to Prevent
School Bullying and Violence
International Conference on School
Bullying and Violence
Stavanger, Norway
September 5-8, 2004
Sandra Dean
Together We Light the Way
Canada
Results: School Safety
Bullying Sept. 1999-June 2002
• Decreased
incidents of bullying
over the three-year
period of
implementation
1999-2000
140
2000-2001
2001-2002
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
All Sites
School 1
School 2
School 3
Results: Academic Achievement
• Students met or
exceeded grade
equivalent growth
Focus
•Creating Safe and Caring
Learning Communities
•Bullying
Resilient
Risk Factors
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•
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•
Unsuccessful in school
Low academic achievement
Low sense of self
Unsafe and insecure environment
– Victimization
– Bullying
– Fighting
•
•
•
•
Poor nutrition
Family stress
Poor relationships
Low secure attachments to caring adults
Protective Factors
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
School success
Increased academic achievement
A sense of self
Safe, secure and nurturing environments
A healthful lifestyle
Positive family and school relationships
Respectful and caring relationships
Connection to caring adults
Monitoring and Evaluating
• Informed decision making
• Refine implementation
• Change or re-direct practice
Comprehensive School Based-Model
Pillars for Living, Learning Growing and Being
• Academic
• Respect
• Teamwork
• Leadership
Guiding Principles
• Everyone is unique and has a contribution
to make
• Everyone has strengths which must be
nurtured and supported
• Everyone has the right to be respected
and the responsibility to respect others
• Service to others performed with caring
and love makes a difference
School/Community-Wide Approach
• Agreements
• Consequences
Role Models
“Like it or not, teachers, parents,
caregivers, we are all role
models. Our daily choices and
actions will echo through the
generations.”
- Jensen
Circles of Respect
Partner Engagement
• Social Capital
• Social Cohesion
Current and Future Initiatives
•
•
•
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•
•
Provincial Governments
Canadian Government
U.S. Government
The Caribbean
OECD
United Nations
From Program to Practice
1. Comprehensive training
2. Step-by-step instructions and staged
implementation approaches
3. Full range of resources
4. Measurement tools
5. Ongoing support
6. Best-practice sharing opportunities
7. Celebration events
Community
Somewhere, there are people to whom we can
Speak with passion, without having the words
Catch in our throats.
Somewhere a circle of hands will open
To receive us,
Eyes will light up as we enter,
Voices will celebrate us whenever we come into
Our own power.
Community means strength that joins
Our strength to do the work that
Needs to be done.
Arms to hold us when we falter.
A circle of healing.
A circle of friends.
Someplace where we can be free.
- Christina Baldwin
Contact Information
Sandra Dean
Together We Light the Way
Durham District School Board
400 Taunton Road East
Whitby, Ontario L1R 2K6
Canada
dean_sandra@durham.edu.on.ca
www.togetherwelighttheway.com