Canadian school programs for students with emotional/behavioural disorders: A Decade of programs, policies, and practice

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to examine programs and services for students with emotional/behavioural disorders (E/BD) across Canada. It is a replication of a survey undertaken a decade prior intended to examine similarities and differences in Canada's provinces and territories, as well as exploring overall changes to policy and process in this period of time. Nine jurisdictions participated in this 2014 iteration of the cross-Canada electronic survey requesting information on services, policies, and practices for students with E/BD in the K-12 school systems from key stakeholders in jurisdictional ministries. Overall themes were captured, as well as unique highlights in each participating jurisdiction. Continued movement away from diagnosis, identification, and categorization is evident; however, little consistency has been attained across the country. Key issues are discussed along with recommendations moving forward.

European Perspectives on Inclusive Education in Canada

“…Many Canadian provinces, territories, and/or school boards are using or including elements of response to intervention, a model of delivering services that is reflective of the traditional cascade model, where most students are in the regular class and on the regular curriculum (Tier One), some students require additional supports for some concepts (Tier Two), and a few students receive an alternative curriculum (Tier Three). However, Maich et al (2018) did find cross-Canada trends towards inclusion of students with disabilities and towards noncategorization of exceptionality.…”

“…In NL's case, the province has moved from a history of a full segregation in the 1980s for students with disabilities to "an internationally embraced model of inclusive education where all children, regardless of religion, culture, gender or ability, can attend the neighbourhood school" (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2017, p. 5). However, policies, practices, and even definitions, remain vastly inconsistent across the country and struggles remain in Newfoundland and Labrador's jurisdictional approach to the inclusion of students with disabilities (Maich et al, 2018). Even within NL, inherent and emergent challenges exist around the development of inclusive policies and practices.…”

“…Areas like health care and education, for example, operate from provincial / territorial directives, with often little federal direction (Dworet & Bennett, 2002)-even the use and names of individual education plans for students with disabilities vary. In the field of education, this diversity in funding and programming includes the provision of educational programs through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (Maich et al, 2018). Maich and Sider (2019) summarize these relationships:…”