Overview

School and system leaders support a bias-free approach to progressive discipline by:

  • reviewing current student discipline practices
  • identifying bias and discriminatory barriers
  • assessing how the school community understand human rights principles
  • identifying which practices are working well and areas that may need further development and improvement

This guide to bias-free discipline helps you, as a leader, enhance your understanding about the key areas and topics related to progressive discipline:

  • consideration of mitigating and other factors
  • biases and barriers to equity
  • human rights principles
  • leadership

In this guide, you will also find a range of suggested approaches and practices for reviewing, revising and implementing practices related to progressive discipline:

  • through the lens of equity, inclusive education and human rights principles
  • by promoting a positive school environment and using a collaborative approach to build knowledge

As a leader, you should use a personal growth-oriented and collaborative approach and evidence-informed decision making to achieve this goal.

Mitigating and other factors

In order to be effective and constructive, your response to student behaviour issues should be based on an understanding of the challenges students face and the underlying causes of their behaviour.

Under the Education Act and the Ontario Human Rights Code, you must take mitigating and other factors into account when considering:

  • whether to suspend a student
  • how long a suspension will be
  • how long a suspension will be pending an expulsion
  • whether to recommend that a student is expelled
  • if a student should be expelled from one school or all schools in the school board
  • what to do about a suspension if the school board decides not to expel a student

We recommend that mitigating and other factors are considered in all situations when you are determining progressive discipline interventions and consequences.

Context matters

Behaviour can be understood differently when viewed from different perspectives and when the context in which it occurs is taken into account. Behaviour:

  • is learned
  • serves a function for the individual
  • can be changed over time

Inappropriate behaviour is often a student’s way of responding to something in their environment. It may be an attempt to communicate a need, rather than a deliberately aggressive or purposefully negative act.

To manage student behaviour effectively, you need to consider not just what the student is doing, but also the underlying causes of the behaviour. If you focus only on stopping the behaviour, you will often find that another inappropriate behaviour rises in its place, because the underlying need has not been met.

Mitigating factors

Be aware of the mitigating factors a student is facing to understand their behaviour. Does the student:

  • have the ability to control their behaviour?
  • have the ability to understand the foreseeable consequences of their behaviour?
  • create an unacceptable risk to the safety of any person by continuing to be in the school environment?

Other factors

You should also consider:

  • the student’s history
  • the student’s age
  • whether a progressive discipline approach has been used with the student
  • whether the student’s behaviour was related to being harassed because of their race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation or any other harassment
  • how the suspension or expulsion would affect the student’s ongoing education
  • if the student has an Individual Education Plan (IEP),
    • whether the behaviour is a manifestation of a disability or special education need identified in the student’s IEP
    • if appropriate individual accommodations have been provided
    • if suspension and expulsion is likely to aggravate or worsen the student’s behaviour or conduct

Your progressive discipline approach may need to be revisited or readjusted to:

  • sustain and promote positive student behaviour
  • address underlying causes
  • change accommodations for students with IEPs

Discriminatory biases and systemic barriers

You should strive to identify discriminatory biases and eliminate systemic barriers. You should have processes in place to identify and safeguard students from bias.

Biases are beliefs and attitudes that can affect an individual’s behaviour and actions. They can:

  • have a negative impact on students
  • be intentional or unintentional
  • be adopted unconsciously through the influence of the social environment and the media

All individuals have assumptions and biases. When reviewing progressive discipline practices, you should consciously identify personal biases and monitor decisions and actions for influence from biases.

Bias-free approaches

An approach that recognizes and addresses your own biases helps build and foster a positive, safe, accepting and respectful school environment by:

  • respecting all people and groups
  • reflecting human rights principles
  • ensuring that every person receives fair and equitable treatment based on individual strengths and needs
  • considering the root causes of student behaviour
  • improving strategies that focus on prevention and early intervention to resolve behavioural issues
  • enhancing the school’s approach to student discipline
  • supporting student achievement
  • preparing students for the future

Systemic barriers

Systemic barriers usually arise from entrenched institutional policies and practices. These barriers perpetuate discriminatory behaviours through policies and practices.

You should reflect on and identify beliefs and attitudes that show up as:

  • Stereotypes: Images of a person, often based on false or generalized, usually negative, conceptions.
  • Prejudices: Pre-judgments of an individual or a group on the basis of a stereotype.
  • Discriminations: Differential treatments of people because of stereotyping or prejudice.
  • Systemic discrimination: Differential treatment embedded in policies and practices.

Discrimination

Discrimination can consist of:

  • systemic factors
  • unfair treatment
  • harassment
  • unmet needs for accommodation

When making decisions about intervention, supports and discipline, you must keep in mind that inappropriate behaviour may be in reaction to facing discrimination and that being subjected to discrimination is likely to cause strong emotions and responses. Each decision along the continuum of progressive discipline should take this factor into account.

Students who come from backgrounds of historic and systemic disadvantage may face additional and at times intersecting barriers to equity that should be taken into account in decision making about inappropriate behaviour.

Reflecting on biases and systemic barriers

You should consider how beliefs and attitudes of educators and non-teaching staff about individuals or groups identified in the Code affect:

  • student learning
  • student behaviour
  • policies and practices
  • the school environment
  • relationships with members of the school community (such as parents)

You should reflect on how prejudices and stereotypes affect your assessment and decision-making in disciplinary situations.

Human rights principles

You need to understand key human rights principles when implementing bias-free progressive discipline, as laid out in the Ontario Human Rights Code.

When making or reviewing decisions in individual discipline cases, you should minimize delays and changes that might create hardship for the student and affect their learning. Delays in the discipline process may have a greater impact on students belonging to certain groups identified in the Ontario Human Rights Code, who may become disengaged from school.

Human dignity

Respect for human dignity is the foundation of human rights.

Substantive equality

Occurs when people experience equal opportunities, outcomes and benefits from policies, practices, programs, services and systems. Sometimes, treating people and groups the same way will achieve substantive equality. Sometimes they must be treated differently to take into account their particular needs and situations.

Power imbalance

Power is role-dependent or relational. Power imbalances are a normal condition in societies and institutions, including schools. Societal power imbalances can play out in school settings, both in relationships among students and relationships between students and school leaders.

Because power imbalances may lead to discrimination and harassment, it is important to recognize the imbalances that exist within the school community and understand how they may be affecting relationships.

Individualized approach

Every student is unique and should be treated as an individual with particular strengths and needs and should not be stereotyped based on association with any group.

Impact, not intent

When deciding if discrimination has occurred, it is important to take into account the impact of an action rather than whether there was an intent to discriminate.

Duty to accommodate

The legal obligation that school boards have under the Ontario Human Rights Code to take measures that enable individuals to benefit from and take part in the provision of services equally and to participate equally and perform to the best of their ability in the educational setting.

Removing barriers

Barriers are obstacles to equity. They may be:

  • overt or subtle
  • intended or unintended
  • systemic or specific to an individual or group

They prevent or limit access to opportunities, benefits, or advantages that are available to other members of society. Barriers, including those related to Code grounds and other factors, may contribute to inappropriate behaviour by students and they may also be embedded in disciplinary processes. They should be identified and removed.

Historic/ongoing systemic disadvantage

When dealing with students from certain groups identified in the Code, it is important to recognize that the group may have been disadvantaged by barriers over a long period of time and that the group’s history may be a factor contributing to the student’s behaviour.

School and system leaders should try to determine whether this is the case, detect any hidden biases (individual or systemic) and decide on the types of support and/or consequences that could help change the student's behaviour.

Intersectionality

An individual identified by more than one of the grounds under the Code may be subject to unique forms of discrimination. Race, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity can intersect to create additional barriers for some students. Other factors, such as socio-economic status, may intersect as an element of the discrimination.

Evidence-informed decision making

Collecting data is an important strategy to understand behaviour and monitor the school environment. You can use school climate surveys that include questions about harassment and discrimination to help you identify biases and barriers in your schools and school board.

Data should be collected systematically and for a specific purpose, following the requirements of the:

  • Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA)
  • Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA)
  • Education Act

Demographic data

Contextual data that relate to equity and inclusive education, such as:

  • ethnicity of students
  • community socio-economic factors that may be taken into consideration when planning for improved student achievement
  • enrolment, attendance and graduation data

Perceptual data

Data that measures how students, teachers and parents understand the learning environment. This can be collected through school climate survey questions about the school community’s values and beliefs, attitudes and observations.

Student achievement

Data on student learning and achievement, such as:

  • teacher observations
  • samples of students’ classroom work
  • results of informal and formal assessments
  • report card data
  • large-scale assessment results (EQAO)

School processes

Information about school programs and processes as they affect student achievement, such as:

Suggested approaches and practices

Your approach to progressive disciple should be a continuous cycle of review, development, refinement and application.

Review

You should continuously review your policies and practices related to progressive discipline to identify and remove, or prevent, bias and discriminatory barriers.

You can do this by:

  • reviewing progressive discipline practices on a regular basis to help ensure that they are bias-free and implemented in a consistent and equitable manner
  • considering human rights and equity and inclusive education principles when reviewing progressive discipline policies and practices
  • assessing whether progressive discipline practices are applied in a fair and timely way for all students, including students from groups identified in the Ontario Human Rights Code
  • establishing that staff members monitor student behaviour to evaluate which measures have been most successful in improving behaviour
  • reviewing prevention and intervention practices with staff on a regular basis
  • reviewing and assessing the use of programs and practices that promote healthy relationships and positive peer interaction (for example, character development)
  • assessing how well staff, students and parents understand their rights and responsibilities with respect to progressive discipline policies and practices
  • seeking to identify any discriminatory barriers that may prevent students, particularly those from groups identified in the Code, from reporting incidents of harassment or discrimination

Review various types of data for evidence of the effect (positive or negative) that progressive disciplinary practices are having on students and determine ways to achieve more positive effects. You can:

  • review the data being collected by the school and school board (for example, demographic, perceptual, student achievement, school process) and how it is being used
  • review information from different sources to identify the effects that current disciplinary practices are having, such as:
    • school climate surveys
    • parental feedback
    • EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) assessment results
    • student and class profiles
    • attendance records
    • suspension and expulsion trend data
  • work with staff to identify and review other sources of evidence or information that can be used to assess the effect that disciplinary practices are having on students, including students from groups identified in the Code
  • consider the feedback, observations and perceptions expressed by staff, students and parents (for example, in surveys, meetings, interviews) about ways of approaching issues of student behaviour
  • determine what action is needed to make improvements in existing policies and practices
  • keep the school community informed about the evidence of the effects of bias-free progressive discipline and related practices (for example, in your school climate survey results)

Develop / refine

Collaborate with staff, students, parents and community members to address perceived biases and stereotypes. You can:

  • inform all members of the school community about school policies, practices and roles and responsibilities related to bias-free progressive discipline
  • consult with students, staff, parents and other members of the school community to understand how the progressive discipline policy of the board/school has affected student learning, growth and well-being.
  • where appropriate, use insights gained through consultation to inform the development, implementation and revision of progressive discipline policies and practices
  • use a variety of strategies to reach out to members of the school community to obtain their perspectives on the best way to develop and implement bias-free progressive discipline
  • collaborate with members of the school community to address identified prejudices, biases and stereotypes

Foster awareness among staff and other members of the school community with the Ontario Human Rights Code and Ministry of Education policies, including the following:

Provide support for staff to help them understand how to embed human rights principles into progressive discipline practices by:

  • drawing on existing expertise within the school board as well as in community agencies and groups to support the implementation of bias-free policies and procedures
  • communicating information to members of the school community about actions taken and results

Expand knowledge among members of the school community and guide them in the development and implementation of a bias-free approach to progressive discipline by:

  • implementing practices designed to assess whether staff, students and parents understand progressive discipline, the procedures associated with it and their own rights and responsibilities in connection with it
  • building capacity among staff for recognizing and being guided by human rights principles when they apply progressive discipline procedures
  • holding regular information sessions and provide learning opportunities to educate students, staff, parents and other members of the school community about:
    • overt or subtle, intended or unintended and systemic discrimination or specific biases and barriers against individuals or groups
    • prejudice and stereotyping, such as how people can accept and act on stereotypes without giving them much thought
    • issues of privilege, power and power dynamics within the school
    • bullying and intimidation behaviours, such as harassment based on grounds under the Code or other factors, such as disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, family circumstances, race, social status, size, or strength
    • mental health and addictions
    • intervention and prevention strategies

Application

Engage members of the school community in actively supporting positive student behaviour. You can:

  • set up and maintain informal and formal mechanisms to support a safe and trusting reporting environment for all students, staff and parents (for example, to report bullying and harassment)
  • adjust practices as necessary to eliminate any discriminatory barriers that might prevent students from reporting incidents of harassment or discrimination
  • implement practices for ongoing feedback and dialogue with staff, students, parents and community members
  • implement strategies to support staff in practising a bias-free approach to progressive discipline, for example, by:
    • including helpful ideas and approaches in staff and student handbooks
    • embedding guidelines in board policies and procedures

Establish with staff the practice of taking into account mitigating and other factors when responding to inappropriate student behaviour by:

  • seeking information to help understand the underlying causes of student behaviour
  • considering mitigating factors and other factors at all points along the continuum of progressive discipline
  • taking into consideration any information provided by parents or students that may relate to mitigating or other factors
  • considering the range of needs, circumstances and types of conditions that may affect student behaviour, such as:
    • communication, medical, sensory, social, academic, emotional and physical needs
    • mental health issues
    • communication disorders
    • executive function deficits
  • considering the range of interventions, supports or consequences and determine which are most suitable for a student who engages in a particular inappropriate behaviour
  • monitoring student behaviour to evaluate which measures have been most successful in changing the behaviour

Apply policies and practices consistently and equitably, taking into account that equity does not mean treating people the same without regard for individual differences. You should:

  • determine the appropriate consequence, taking into account the severity of the behaviour, the safety of others and any mitigating and other factors
  • address inappropriate behaviour promptly, recognizing that delays can result in unintended consequences
  • ascertain that the behaviour is not associated with a disability or a medical condition
  • determine consequences that are age-appropriate, in the knowledge that inappropriate disciplinary measures can have long-term effects
  • consider whether accommodations are needed to meet the student’s individual needs
  • address identified prejudices, biases and stereotypes in collaboration with the school community
  • implement programs to support healthy relationships and positive peer interaction (such as character development)
  • foster positive behaviour among students by implementing age-appropriate prevention programs, consistently practising early intervention and providing the support students need
  • improve capacity to adjust practices as necessary to meet the needs of all students by constantly monitoring behaviour, reviewing and refining policies and practices and applying improved policies and practices

Download student poster

A poster developed by students showing student views of bias-free progressive discipline. Phrases on the poster include : “Talk less… listen more” and “Accept me for who I am. Accept yourself for who you are."
Download a student-made poster showing views of bias-free discipline.

Related information

Policies and resources for safe schools

Addressing inappropriate behaviour in schools

Positive school environments

Bullying prevention and intervention planning for school boards

Caring and safe schools in Ontario: supporting students with special education needs through progressive discipline, kindergarten to Grade 12

Policy/Program Memorandum 145: Progressive Discipline and Promoting Positive Student Behaviour

Policy/Program Memorandum 128: The Provincial Code of Conduct and School Board Codes of Conduct

Responding to activities and behaviours: Ontario Regulation 472/07, Behaviour, Discipline and Safety of Pupils

Ontario Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Program Requirements, 2024