Minister puts faith in ‘student-centred’ approach to combating classroom violence

Manitoba’s education minister says her office has issued clear guidance to better support school staff who have been forced to confront a rise in student outbursts and related workplace injuries.

Tracy Schmidt said “concerns about health and safety” have been relayed to her office by both the Manitoba Teachers’ Society and non-teaching employees.

“What we hear from teachers is that we are asking more of teachers all of the time — teachers are fulfilling more and more roles,” Schmidt said, noting that their jobs in 2025 often mirror those of a social worker.

The mother of three school-aged children said a newly updated code of conduct will proactively promote “a culture of safety” in schools for all people who frequent them.

The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba is reporting a 332 per cent increase in time-loss injury claims in the sector over the last decade.

That data, obtained by the Free Press via freedom of information, echoes teacher anecdotes about a surge in student-on-staff violence and a spring survey by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

“Providing students with strategic programming may curb behaviour that does not meet expectations before it occurs. If it does occur, the response should be one of support and care,” the new code of conduct says.

The 38-page document, which was circulated to school leaders on June 11, provides more clarity about how to address behavioural challenges, the education minister said. It also outlines an appeal process for families.

CUPE Manitoba president Gina McKay has flagged concerns about the lack of annual training provided to many non-teaching employees to prevent workplace violence.

Seven in 10 educational assistants told CUPE Manitoba that they’d experienced violence on the job in a recent poll that attracted 753 participants.

More than half of that group disclosed they were subjected to violence on a weekly basis, if not daily.

At the same time, only three in 10 of all EA respondents indicated they were receiving paid annual training to prevent incidents.

McKay expressed support for the launch of a provincial strategy to tackle the prevalence and wide-ranging nature of violence in schools.

Manitoba’s new code of conduct touts “student-centred behaviour intervention.”

The province is shifting away from what the minister called “reactive, exclusionary practises,” such as timeouts, detention and early dismissal in response to student misbehaviour.

Examples of best practises include setting up a meeting between a student and trusted adult, creating a “positive behaviour agreement,” conducting a threat assessment, requesting a student who has caused physical damage to pay for it, and referring a pupil to student services personnel or an outside agency.

Consequences may be necessary when other approaches are unsuccessful, but they are not effective when “overused,” the document says.

Schmidt said a cultural change in schools will take time and more resources that need to be rebuilt following the previous government’s consecutive cuts to education funding.

The scholars behind the Violence and Harassment Against Educators Project are calling on school leaders across Canada to encourage reporting of violent incidents and stop trivializing them if they want to get a handle on the situation.

“Where we start is smaller classrooms, adequate (early learning and health) assessments and more EAs,” said Chris Bruckert, co-founder of the research initiative based out of the University of Ottawa.

Bruckert, a criminologist, said a child’s aggression is typically the result of their frustrations.

“It’s not because they’re bad kids. They’re kids who are absolutely not having their needs met,” the professor said.

A provincial spokesperson said Manitoba schools have been asked to align their rules with the new code of conduct by January 2026.

The policy directive aims to support “the prevention of, intervention with and response to inappropriate student behaviour, including incidents of violence towards staff and students,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca