In a bid to curb harmful language at local schools, the Rainy River District School Board has adopted the Words Matter campaign, a program the superintendent of education believes is both a proactive and reactive approach to students using slurs and other verbal abuse.
The staff training campaign, delivered in conjunction with diversity and equity training program provider The Harmony Movement, seeks to address the use of hateful and discriminatory language from students by training RRDSB staff on when and how to intervene.
By examining school and board data, the RRDSB has “recognized that there are suspensions that are happening for language that is hurtful, harmful and discriminatory,” Superintendent of Education Beth Fairfield said.
“Last year, 17 per cent of students had identified that they had been verbally attacked while at school. When we look at what the reasons were for the bullying, some of the reasons have been based on a student’s identity, their lived identities, whether that’s their sexual orientation or their race or the way they look.”
In addition to training, staff will receive a pocket guide and posters to reinforce what they’ve learned during the course and to make it clear to students what will and will not be tolerated. Fairfield hopes that this trend will change for the better over the long term, while fostering an improved climate of school culture.
For Fairfield said the board is reacting and adapting to a society increasingly becoming polarized. Nuance and shades of grey are cast aside, while arbitrary and subjective black-and-white thinking is championed by social media.
“Especially when we look at issues like around faith or religion, LGBTQIA+ rights and newcomers to our communities, there seems to be more and more very black-and-white thinking and less acceptance,” Fairfield said. “I would say that’s sort of the reactive side to why we felt we needed to move forward with this campaign.”
The endeavour also has a preventative aim, Fairfield said. “I’d say that the proactive side of it for us is really just that we want to be able to empower all of our staff to speak up against harmful language. The second piece to that is also that we want to remind all staff that they have a duty to interrupt – it’s everyone’s responsibility to interrupt when they hear harmful language. Whether you feel comfortable intervening or not, you as the adult in the building need to do that.”
Fairfield and others at RRDSB realize that different people will have differing levels of comfort in switching from bystander to intervenor. That’s why the board initiated the campaign and scheduled training for this Friday’s professional development day.
“We felt it was important to take the time at a PD day to not only explain the why behind it, like why this is important and why they need to interrupt, but also to give them some tools, some very simple language that they can use when they hear harmful words, to interrupt and also to support the person who was harmed,” Fairfield said.
“There are a couple of quotes, and one that I really love is one from Brené Brown, where she talks about, ‘You can choose courage or you can choose comfort, but you can’t choose both.’ So, I think that’s what we’re really trying to highlight with this training is that it could be uncomfortable, and it will be uncomfortable for some people.”
Posters to be hung in the schools will let students know that words matter and harmful language will be addressed and those who use it accountable.
“Also, for those students who might be impacted by it, it’s to let them know that staff in the building are going to make sure they’re safe, and they’re going to interrupt the language,” Fairfield said. “They’re going to make sure that it is a welcoming place for all students, because ultimately, that’s our goal, a safe and welcoming place for everyone.”
Fairfield anticipates an increase in reported incidents of students using harmful, hateful, and discriminatory language after staff training because of increased awareness around the issue at hand.
“Logically, you would think, ‘Yeah! We want to see the numbers drop!’ We want to see less suspensions for harmful language, and we want to see fewer incident reports for harmful language, and we want to see an increase in our school climate survey of kids feeling a sense of belonging at school.
“We may, in fact, in our first year or first six months, see an increase in the number of incidents that are reported. Hopefully, as that continues, they will decrease over time. It’s sort of like you buy a white car, then all you ever see is white cars.”
But Fairfield stresses that educating teachers, students and parents about the seriousness of verbal abuse should ultimately see rates of incidents and suspensions drop.
”It [likely will] appear that it’s worse than it is, but actually it’s getting better. Hopefully, we’ll hear that from the student voice, too. Because then when we look at our school climate surveys, what we should see is that more kids feel a sense of belonging, and that 17 per cent of kids who have been verbally attacked is now reduced.”
