Page 16 - CARING and SAFE SCHOOLS in ONTARIO

Assessments may reveal areas of concern – “gaps” – that school leaders were previously unaware of, and this information will provide a useful starting point for rethinking practices in these areas. For example, if student responses indicate that students are reluctant to report incidents of bullying and harassment, school leaders will know that they need to identify specific barriers to student reporting and develop procedures and protocols to address them.
Examples of assessment instruments include the following:
✦ school climate surveys: Sample surveys for students, teachers, and parents have been developed by the ministry and are available online. The surveys are designed to assess the school’s effectiveness in promoting equity and ensuring the safety of teachers and students.
✦ cultural audits: Interviews and group discussions can be used to help schools determine to what extent the goals identified in the school’s mission statement and safety and equity policies are achieved in practice.
✦ action research: An inquiry process in the field, involving a group of educators or all members of the school community, can be used to assess the effectiveness of specific strategies for ensuring a caring and safe school culture.
School culture may be assessed using one or a combination of the strategies outlined above. Whatever strategy or strategies they use, schools will need to identify specific attributes – or indicators – of a caring and safe school culture
in order to determine which are present in their school, and to what degree. It is important to invite responses from a variety of school stakeholders – including parents, students, staff, and community members – in order to reach agreement on the values and beliefs that are essential to a caring and safe school and to gain an accurate picture of what is working well and where improvements are needed.
The checklist provided in Figure 2 identifies some indicators that system and school leaders may find useful for assessing school culture. (The indicators can be assessed on a sliding scale – for example, as true or applicable “rarely, sometimes, or always”.) The list is not intended to be exhaustive.
Caring and Safe Schools
14