Parents and caregivers who are made vulnerable to abuse and discrimination due to social marginalization need to know they will be respected, validated and supported when they speak out. Teachers, administrators and other school staff can contribute to building such an environment through a range of practises and measures designed to foster respectful responses within the whole school. For example, schools can:
- Develop – through a consultative process – guidelines and procedures ensuring respectful and acceptable behaviour and language that are explicitly anti-oppression and that all members of the school community agree to follow. The school’s code of conduct can be a vehicle for such an agreement.
- Develop a pool of competent, aware and motivated resource people through training and education. Building knowledge, awareness and skills among all school staff members (and all school community members) is key to breathing life into school practises and policies aimed at creating safe and inclusive school environments.
- Create initiatives and activities that convey positive and strength-based messages about diverse groups of people, including ethnocultural groups, people with different gender identities and sexual orientations and women.
When schools approach a parent and caregiver to discuss a bullying situation, this can trigger fears of judgment. Schools can take time to plan a supportive approach, taking into consideration a parent’s or guardian’s specific needs and circumstances.
A parent attended a meeting to discuss his child’s bullying behaviour. The parent worked in a factory and arrived wearing jeans and a t-shirt. The principal was wearing a suit and tie, and the vice-principal was wearing an expensive dress and high heels. They sat on one side of the table while the parent sat on the other side. Following that initial meeting, the parent consistently missed all the follow-up meetings.
A school was planning a meeting with a parent to discuss her child’s aggressive threats and behaviour. The principal and teacher spent time planning the meeting, piecing together what they knew about the parent, the family and their history. They identified that the parent (like the student) had a learning disability and had difficulty reading. They set up the meeting space so that the chairs were organized in a circle, and sat beside the parent. They designed a communication plan with no writing or reading involved in order to build on her strengths and abilities.