N.S. gets failing grade for dealing with school-based violence
CTV
Incidents of violence in Nova Scotia schools have increased 60 per cent over the last seven years, up from 17,000 to 26,000 reported cases since 2017, according to Kim Adair, the province’s auditor general.
Incidents of violence in Nova Scotia schools have increased 60 per cent over the last seven years, up from 17,000 to 26,000 reported cases since 2017, according to Kim Adair, the province’s auditor general.
The findings show nearly half of those incidents are occurring within the Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE). More than 18 per cent of reported violent incidents over the last seven years had no record of any action taken by school administration
Adair says the situation now requires a more focused effort not evident in the current Code of Conduct policy.
“There’s no cohesive approach to preventing and addressing violence in schools and it shows – right from the weaknesses in the School Code of Conduct all the way to the lack of action on reported incidents,” says Adair.
The audit points to weaknesses in the reliability and accuracy of school violence data, which means the number of cases could be even higher because some events go unreported. The method of collecting the data does not identify if a student or educator is repeatedly impacted by violence.
“Training and prevention have not kept pace with the rising number of violent incidents in public schools, resulting in educators who feel unprepared to deal with it,” Adair says.
Adair points to the need for educators — which includes teachers and teacher assistants — to have a healthy and safe workplace. They cite several possibilities for the sharp rise in violence, including increasingly diverse and complex student needs.
