Newfoundland’s Safe and Caring Schools Policy defines bullying as a pattern of aggressive behaviour meant to hurt or cause discomfort to another person. Participating in bullying includes directly carrying out, assisting, or encouraging the behaviour in any way. The bully has more perceived power than the victim. Bullying can be physical, verbal, social, and/or electronic. Some bullying behaviours may be illegal (e.g.: an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada).
Bullying can focus on: disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexuality, race/ethnicity/religion, or other issues. Bullying behaviour typically involves repetition or the threat of repetition and is intended to cause fear, intimidation, humiliation, distress or other forms of harm.
Newfoundland’s policy on bullying was updated by the Department of Education in 2013. The Safe and Caring Schools Policy defines bullying and includes a staff response protocol on how staff members should intervene, investigate, inform parents/guardians of, apply consequences for and document bullying incidents.
For more details on cyberbullying legislation, including federal legislation, please visit: Legal Consequences of Cyberbullying
Legal requirements for Private Schools in Newfoundland
Private schools in Newfoundland are included within the Schools Act and, are not exempt from regulation by the Minister. The same responsibilities that public schools owe to maintain a safe and inclusive environment also apply to private schools.
Educators share responsibility with parents and other adults in students’ lives to nurture the development of the social emotional skills that students need to engage in healthy relationships, and to teach students that bullying is wrong and unacceptable.
These are your rights as an educator:
This is what is expected of you as an educator:
a) preventative initiatives, including the teaching of positive behaviours to all students;
b) guidelines for responding to traumatic events;
c) acknowledgement of individual students’ needs when providing positive behaviour supports, including early identification of students with exceptionalities;
d) the training of school personnel, including for effective classroom management.
If a student discloses, or if you as an educator have witnessed that a student has been bullied or cyberbullied at school, or if you hear about it from school personnel or someone else, these are your responsibilities as an educator:
This is what is expected of you as an educator:
The school board is expected to ensure that the needs of the students who may be adversely affected by the unacceptable behaviour are addressed by the school district.
And finally,
Remember to consider your own behaviour, despite any disagreements or hostility you may encounter. Students closely watch what the adults in their life do and are influenced as much by your actions as your words. When students see you being respectful and empathic towards others, even when you disagree, they are more likely to behave the same way.
For more resources, please visit PREVNet.ca