AERR: Positive learning and working environments

Priority 2: Enhance High-Quality Learning and Working Environments
Goal 2: Positive Learning and Working Environments
Outcome: The Division’s learning and working environments are welcoming, caring, respectful, safe and foster student and staff well-being

Alberta Education's Assurance Domain: Learning supports
Provincial Outcome: Alberta students are successful; Alberta’s K-12 education system is well-governed and managed

Annual Education Results Report 2023-24 ǀ AERR Overview

Performance Measures

84% of teachers, parents and students agree learning environments are welcoming, caring, respectful and safe.
90% of parents agree teachers care about their child.
87% of teachers, parents and students who agree students are safe at school, learning the importance of caring for others, learning respect for others and treated fairly at school.
92% of parents agree their child is safe at school.
77% of teachers, parents and students are satisfied students model active citizenship.
86% of families agree their child's school encourages students to be responsible, respectful and engaged citizens.
93% of staff agree they have the materials and equipment needed to do their work.
94% of staff agree the mission, values, priorities and goals of EIPS make them feel their job is important.
93% of families, staff, Grade 12 students and community members are confident EIPS' learning and working environments are welcoming, inclusive, respectful and safe.

Additional Information:
AERR: Positive Learning and Working Environments (see pg. 59-64)

Results

The 2023-24 Alberta Education Assurance (AEA) survey results demonstrate EIPS does an excellent job creating welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments. Briefly, 84% of teachers, parents and students agree their learning environments are welcoming, caring, respectful and safe. Another 90% of parents and 81% of students agree teachers care about learners. Eighty-two per cent of students feel safe in their school, and 92% of parents agree. As well, 87% of teachers, parents and students agree learners are learning the importance of caring for others, learning respect for others and are treated fairly in school.

These results are echoed in EIPS’ 2023-24 Annual Feedback Survey—administered to families, students and staff. Every year, the Division conducts the survey with all groups to gauge its progress toward meeting the goals and priorities outlined in its Four-Year Education Plan. Respondents are asked a series of questions about their experiences with EIPS and its schools, the overall performance of the Division, the quality of education being provided to students and areas for improvement. Similar to the provincial survey, the Annual Feedback Survey data confirms the Division is doing a good job of providing welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments. In fact, 86% of families and 76% of students agree EIPS schools encourage learners to be responsible, respectful and engaged citizens. As well, 87% of families and 74% of students strongly agree or agree their school is safe.

There is a juxtaposition in results between the AEA survey and the EIPS Annual Feedback Survey. In the 2023-24 AEA survey, 68% of parents were satisfied with their child’s specialized support and services, enabling them to be a successful learner—down 10% from the previous year. However, in the EIPS Annual Feedback Survey, 81% of students responded their individual needs are met at school. As such, an area of focus for 2024-25 is to ensure parents are aware of the supports provided to students, and ensure schools are working with their parent and caregiver community to provide appropriate supports for students.

Looking ahead, EIPS will continue to strive to create positive learning and working environments. The reason: Students are more likely to engage in healthy behaviours and succeed academically if they feel connected to the school and believe others care about them. For example, according to a recent Development and Psychopathology journal article entitled, “School connectedness as a protective factor against childhood exposure to violence and social deprivation,” school connectedness is the strongest predictive factor for both males and females against substance abuse, school absenteeism and taking part in violence. With that in mind, EIPS intends to build its efforts to better integrate intentional strategies that help enhance school connectedness.

mental health and well-being

Mental health and well-being continued to be a Division priority throughout 2023-24. That’s because both serve as foundations for learning, belonging and social participation at school. All efforts in this area were guided by EIPS’ Mental Health Strategic Plan, which details responsive and proactive strategies to best support students’ well-being—including lesson plans, strategies, partnerships, professional learning and engagement. One of those focus areas was ensuring whole-school participation in healthy relationship-building activities, such as Bullying Awareness Week, Pink Shirt Day, Seven Sacred Teachings, Leader in Me, and more—all to promote positive behaviours and respect.

Professional learning was another critical focus area for the Division. For the most part, the sessions centred on classroom mental health and trauma-informed strategies. Overall, teachers said they found the strategies helpful, particularly for promoting positive mental health and regulated emotions.

One such session was a workshop entitled “The Educator Nervous System,” facilitated by Lori Desautel, an assistant professor at Butler University who specializes in social and relational neuroscience in education. During the workshop, Desautel introduced staff to foundational principles of co-regulation. Specifically, the relationship between the regulation of adults and the students they instruct. Overall, the feedback from those who participated was tremendously positive—many of whom asked for more capacity building in this area. So much so, the positive uptake laid the groundwork for related sessions offered throughout the year.

Following Desautel’s workshop, EIPS offered a series of additional workshops at the school level entitled, “Stress, Brain Development and Learning.” More than 130 staff members took part in these, which focused on the impact of stress on adolescent brain development and learning. Of those who attended, most reported being more confident in their ability to support student regulation in the classroom during daily instructions. Similarly, co-regulation training was also provided to schools—70 sessions were offered in 13 schools. For the most part, staff reported they were better equipped to support students’ learning and mental health needs in their classrooms. As well, eight school teams, including an administrator on each team, attended two full days of restorative practices training focused on the importance of nurturing positive school-community cultures rooted in respect and relationships.

The Division also introduced schools, staff and families to a new Brain Architecture game, which explored how brains develop, how life circumstances can influence brain development and the relevance for school staff working with students. In total, 105 staff took part from five EIPS schools. There were also 28 EIPS school family members who participated—all of whom offered positive feedback post-game. Anecdotally, families reported the activity helped build their understanding, knowledge and confidence related to supporting co-regulation with their children. The hope is these activities will build consistent support approaches to better serve learners.

Work was also done around Mental Health Literacy training, which narrowed in on ways schools can best support student mental health, mental distress and mental illness. Pre-training and post-training feedback indicate the session was well-liked and effective in building an understanding of how mental health impacts school success. Thanks to the positive uptake, the Division plans to re-run the training again in 2024-25. Meanwhile, other related initiatives included brain architecture training, challenging behaviours and restorative practices.

The Division also participated in a Mental Health Literacy research project—developed out of the University of Calgary. EIPS was one of only a handful of school di- visions participating. The university is trying to find new ways to integrate mental health best practices into the elementary curriculum. In total, 21 Division 2 classes from eight EIPS schools participated in the project—all of whom reported the topics covered and practices discussed have practical benefits for students.

To support safe school environments, 16 Non-Violent Crisis Intervention sessions were attended by 308 staff members. The sessions provided guidance on topics including verbal de-escalation, safety and trauma-informed approaches to supporting students. Each session was taught by one of three EIPS trainers, who provided training and followup support to staff. Reset Rooms were also established in all junior highs. The rooms were staffed by an EIPS teacher trained in mental health literacy and offered mental health support for students. In 2023-24, the rooms were visited by students more than 27,000 times, and the overall feedback from students was positive. In fact, 90% of school staff said the Reset Rooms positively impacted its school culture.

In addition to mental health, EIPS also offers a School Nutrition Program. Funded by Alberta Education, the program ensures all students at participating schools—Lamont Elementary and Bruderheim School—have daily access to well-balanced, healthy meals and snacks. In the 2023-24 school year, more than 400 students participated in the program, receiving meals and snacks every day.

Thanks to these collective efforts, there is a general consensus among teachers, families and students EIPS learning environments are welcoming, caring, respectful and safe. That’s something the Division is proud of. And, it’s something it intends to build on going forward.

Course offerings

Also offered through EIPS are various occupational health and safety courses. Some of these include:

Respect in the Workplace – Completed by 1,047 people

Health and Safety – 2,305 modules completed

Emergency Preparedness – 3,503 modules completed

First Aid – completed in-house by 69 people

Leadership for Safety Excellence – delivered to all new principals, assistant principals, directors and assistant directors

Asbestos Awareness - delivered to staff within Facility Services and Custodial Services.

fostering a healthy environment for staff

The Division’s efforts to enhance working environments for staff are paying off, too. According to the 2023-24 EIPS Annual Feedback Survey, 92% of certificated staff and 95% of classified staff feel they have the resources and materials needed to do their work. Similarly, 94% of both certificated and classified staff feel the mission, belief statements, priorities and goals of EIPS make their job important. Other highlights include: 99% of certificated staff and 98% of classified staff feel someone at work cares about them; and 93% of certificated staff and 95% of classified staff are satisfied their school or department is a good place to work. Collectively, these are strong indicators of staff engagement and positive working environments for Division employees.

One of the drivers behind these results stems from the Division actively promoting the Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan’s Employee and Family Assistance Program, a proactive health and wellness program providing support services to staff and their families. The program offers confidential, short-term counselling services for employees with work performance issues. Various mental health, emotional-health and wellness resources are also available through the Division’s Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan, Inkblot and Alberta Health Services.

building capacity

EIPS Mental Health Strategy

Throughout 2023-24, significant effort went into building staff capacity around mental health and well-being—as part of EIPS’ Mental Health Strategic Plan. The main focus areas were co-regulation, brain architecture, understanding racism and building our collective knowledge of neurodiversity. The goal: To support students' and staff’s socio-emotional and positive mental health development

Social-emotional well-being
Considerable effort was dedicated to creating school climates and cultures conducive to learning. The Division offered several socio-emotional professional learning opportunities centred on integrating positive mental health, healthy relationships and positive behaviour into schools and classrooms. Other related professional learning sessions focused on working with neurodiverse students, anti-racism, providing sexual-orientation and gender-identity support, best practices for multilingual learners, trauma-informed behaviour strategies, brain health and stress, attendance and re-engagement, supporting students with autism spectrum disorder, mental health literacy and a trauma-informed approach to support mental health.

Reset Rooms
EIPS also established Reset Rooms in all 14 of its junior high schools. The Reset Rooms acted as support centres for students. Each room featured a continuum of evidence-based mental health resources and services for students and their families. Essentially, the rooms were spaces for students when feeling overwhelmed— supervised by an EIPS teacher trained in mental health literacy and supported by the Division’s specialized supports teams. Feedback from school staff, students and families was positive. Increasingly, strategies used in Reset Rooms are being incorporated by teaching staff into their teaching practice.

Violence-Threat Risk Assessment Protocol
Also embedded within the Mental Health Strategic Plan is EIPS’ work with its Violence-Threat Risk Assessment Protocol—used to respond to a threat within the Division. It involves a network of local partners who work together to prevent violence in schools and the community. Partners include local RCMP, Children’s Services, Family and Community Services, Alberta Health Services and Primary Care Networks. EIPS is also part of a Tri-Protocol Agreement, the first of its kind in North America, which includes the Violence-Threat Risk Assessment Protocol, Traumatic Event Systems Protocol and a Suicide Prevention Protocol. Division training is ongoing and includes both Crisis Prevention and Non-Violent Crisis Intervention.

Opportunities for Growth

Respectful relationships and positive mental health are ongoing growth areas for the Division. So, throughout 2023-24, the Division put a lot of effort into this area focusing on prevention, early identification, early intervention, treatment referral and followup requirements. The Division will continue in this same vein throughout 2024-25—as part of Year 5 of its Mental Health Strategic Plan. Specifically, it will focus on building staff capacity to support students learning in increasingly complex classrooms.

The Reset Room project is another area for growth. That’s because funding, past the 2025-26 school year, isn’t adequate to sustain the Reset Room concept at each junior high. As such, the Division plans to shift the Reset Room concept. Instead of dedicating a room and staff member, it will identify mental health leads at each junior high to build capacity around regulation and available resources. The leads will also coach and model evidence-based strategies for the classroom, to support student success.

Also, a growth area, as mentioned in the "Results" section, is ways to enhance respectful student relationships within EIPS. To improve in this area, the Division will create opportunities to nurture connections between staff, staff and students, and home and school. To complement this work, the Division will continue to support the use of restorative practices, trauma-informed approaches, Non-Violent Crisis Intervention training and the Violence-Threat Risk Assessment when necessary. As well, the Division will continue providing anti-racism professional learning opportunities to all staff. Finally, EIPS will continue to maintain its Certificate of Recognition (COR) and implement recommendations from the COR audit. In 2024-25, the Division will focus on health and safety training, job-hazard assessment documentation, communicating site-specific hazards and controls, and identifying and communicating near misses and incident reporting.

Priority Strategy for Education Plan

EIPS will continue to ensure its learning and working environments are welcoming, caring, respectful, safe and foster student and staff well-being. Strategies for the 2025-26 school year include:

Continue all efforts to create and sustain welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments—through partnerships, professional learning, awareness campaigns and resource tools.
Continue to support schools in enhancing programming and services for students with learning, developmental and health-related needs—enrolled in specialized system programs and inclusive classrooms.
Provide targeted professional learning opportunities for staff focused on reducing barriers for students, anti-racism and discrimination. The goal: To develop a respectful Division culture where all students, staff and families feel they belong.
Continue to build the Division’s counsellor community of practice.
Continue to use Violence-Threat Risk Assessment and Traumatic Event Systems processes to increase safety and well-being for staff, students and families.
Provide internal training for staff through divisional “train the trainer” opportunities.
Review and refine EIPS’ Mental Health Strategic Plan, focusing on strategies to support students’ social-emotional well-being and mental health—through enhancing partnerships; building staff capacity; and increasing engagement with students, staff and caregivers.
Collaborate with CASA Mental Health to expand the Division’s CASA classrooms to the rural areas.
Provide ongoing classroom complexity training opportunities to school administrators and staff.
Continue maintaining the Division’s Occupational Health and Safety Certificate of Recognition and address any factors affecting the status or obstructing continuous improvement.
Investigate strategies to support employee health and wellness.

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