The Province is adding 47 specialized staff to prevent and address violence in Nova Scotia schools.
The new resources being piloted include student supervisors, security guards, child and youth care practitioners, educational and teaching assistants and teachers specializing in behaviour and classroom management.
The Department worked with regional centres for education (RCEs) and the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) to add resources that will make schools safer places to learn.
"These new specialized resources are here to do one thing: make sure schools are safe places where staff and students can focus on learning," said Becky Druhan, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. "The positions will immediately and directly contribute to the safety of staff and students, strengthening our school communities. I want to thank my safe and inclusive schools leadership table partners from the Public School Administrators Association of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union for their specific suggestions for supervision resources that informed this investment."
The new resources vary, with each region accessing the resources to best respond to their unique challenges. The specialized teachers will be responsive to the needs of individual school communities and are expected to be in classrooms modelling strategies teachers and school staff can use to manage complex behaviours.
The Province is also updating the Provincial School Code of Conduct Policy, developing a behaviour strategy and updating school emergency management procedures and training.
More than 4,600 regional and school staff, including administrators, support staff, teachers and bus drivers, have provided input on how to strengthen the policy, along with more than 800 school advisory council members including parents, community members and principals.
The Department will be monitoring the impact of these new resources and looking at ways to expand effective pilot programs.
An evaluation committee of teachers is already reviewing outcomes from a pilot project in the South Shore Regional Education Centre that dedicated child and youth care practitioners - who support students who are having difficulty coping in school settings due to social, emotional or behavioural issues - to specific school communities. It was created and funded through Ideas for Education, the Department's program that gives teachers an avenue to use their frontline knowledge to improve Nova Scotia's education system.
Quotes:
"We appreciate this investment in creating safe, positive and effective learning environments in schools across the province. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Minister Druhan and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to ensure that schools are equipped with the human resources needed to proactively support the complex needs of students, especially in communities experiencing rapid population growth."
Scott Armstrong, Chair, Public School Administrators Association of Nova Scotia
Quick Facts:
- the Province is investing about $976,000 in the new resources
- the new resources are in addition to the thousands of specialized behavioural and other support staff already working in Nova Scotia's public school system
- the leadership table, formed in 2023, meets regularly on actions to prevent and address violence in schools
- RCEs and CSAP are responsible for school staffing, including the hiring of school staff
Additional Resources:
- Ideas for Education: https://www.ednet.ns.ca/ideasforeducation
- School advisory councils: https://www.ednet.ns.ca/SAC
