Abstract
Students who have been labeled as having “behaviour problems” in the school system have some of the worst academic and social outcomes of any student group. In most Canadian provinces, responses to students who misbehave are legislated through Safe Schools policies intended to guide districts and individual schools in responding to student misbehaviour. In this research project, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of Manitoba’s Safe and Caring Schools documentation in order to analyze the ways in which provincial policies construct school-based responses to behaviours. Based on our analysis, recommendations for policy-makers to better support studentsinclude revising policies to reflect reconceptualized views of children, non-deficit understandings of behaviour, and ethical responses to student behaviour.
Highlights
Students who have been labeled as having “behaviour problems” in the school system have some of the worst academic and social outcomes of any student group
Responses that make reference to either: (a) mandated process, documentation or legislation, including: reporting behaviour, collecting data, referring to particular mandates, reviewing policy, etc. (b) specified particular mechanical processes intended for teachers to follow verbatim, for example: “give students at least 10 seconds to respond before repeating request” (Manitoba Education and Training, 2015a, p. 10), “make more start requests than stop requests” (Manitoba Education and Training, 2015a, p. 11), or, “ignoring students who engage in attention-seeking behaviour” (Manitoba Education and Training, 2015a, p. 54); Restorative Responses
The language that has been used in responding to children in the school system risks positioning children and theirbehaviours in ways that blame and vilify students
Summary
Students who have been labeled as having “behaviour problems” in the school system have some of the worst academic and social outcomes of any student group. In the last two decades, Manitoba, in line with other education jurisdictions across Canada and the United States, implemented Safe Schools legislation, which outlines responses to student misbehaviour in the school system This legislation and its supporting documents have been implemented, in large part, as a response to concerns over bullying and school violence (Roher, 2007). These policies, often implemented as “zero-tolerance” policies (Winton, 2012), can further alienate those students already marginalized in the public school system, thereby exacerbating their negative schooling experiences, including lack of school success (Dufresne et al, 2010; Finlay, 2003; Rankin et al, 2013). There has been a recent push in Canada to make policies more progressive and supportive of both the “offender” and the “victim” (Roher, 2007; Winton, 2012)
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