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(Canada) Ottawa: 'Increasingly dysregulated pupil behaviour in the younger grades'

Updated: May 26, 2019

May 22, 2019, Ottawa Citizen: More elementary students in Ottawa's public school board are facing suspensions for bad behaviour https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/more-elementary-students-in-ottawas-public-school-board-are-facing-suspensions-for-bad-behaviour The number of times elementary students at Ottawa’s largest school board are suspended for bad behaviour is on the rise. A report from the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board cautions that no conclusions can be drawn about why suspensions are increasing, but the trend is “consistent with reports of increasingly dysregulated pupil behaviour in the younger grades.” In other words, the board’s youngest students are increasingly acting out in ways serious enough to cause them to be temporarily banned from school. It’s not unique to Ottawa. There appears to be an increasing amount of aggression among elementary students across the province, according to unions representing teachers and other educators. At the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the number of “violent incidents” educators report experiencing has more than doubled over the past three years. That includes being kicked, bitten, scratches, punched, spit and sworn at. The board handed out a total of 3,753 suspensions in 2017-18, according to a report discussed by trustees Tuesday. That’s an increase of 12.4 per cent over the previous year. Enrolment has also gone up, but that does not account for the rising number of suspensions. The number of suspensions as a percentage of enrolment increased from 4.6 per cent to 5.1 per cent in that one year, the report found. … …Ellis said some special-education students have cognitive or behavioural challenges that require support. “It’s not just (that) they are bad kids — their ability to self-regulate is not as strong as in the general population. They have higher challenges….

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