• • Engage in and support their child's learning

  • Support their child in attending school

  • Maintain ongoing, regular contact with teachers about their child’s well-being, including their strengths, challenges and interests

  • Will let the school staff know how they would like to be included in the discussion around their child’s well-being and achievement

  • Work with the teacher and the principal to seek clarification and collaborate on solutions when questions arise with respect to their child’s education and to identify and eliminate barriers to learning

  • Promote and value student voice and choice and providing opportunities for them to speak to their strengths and challenges

  • Act as active members of their child’s Student Planning Team

To support student achievement and well-being school leaders:

• • Build a shared vision of inclusive education

  • Identify and eliminate barriers for all students

  • Adopt a critical approach to educational leadership

  • Support collaborative professionalism and ongoing professional learning

  • Engage and empower the community

  • Encourage innovation

  • Promote the leadership potential of others

  • Provide coherent instructional guidance, including the promotion of high leverage practices (see below).

  • Use evidence to inform decisions

  • Have difficult and necessary conversations to confront systemic issues in order to support the students, teachers, and school community.

• • build meaningful relationships with students, parents/guardians, families, and other members of the school community to collectively support students’ well-being and achievement.

  • support the well-being and achievement of every student.

  • act collectively to name, eliminate, and prevent systemic inequities and barriers within the classroom, schools, region, and system.

  • create and support positive, accessible, and equitable learning environments where students feel welcome, safe, and can access and reach their academic potential.

  • use evidence-informed strategies, resources, and/or collaborative practices that provide culturally and linguistically responsive and engaging instruction and support for students.

  • recognize (affirm and validate) the variability of learning needs, social-emotional needs, and cultural backgrounds of the entire student population and the school community.

  • recognize the strengths that greater diversity brings to every aspect of education, including but not limited to race, culture, disability, neurodiversity, heritage, linguistic background(s), community, cultural knowledge, beliefs, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

  • work to understand and support the individual abilities, identities, and unique strengths and challenges of every student.

  • monitor student progress frequently and provide timely interventions as required.

  • ensure decisions are made and resources are allocated, aligned with this policy.

• • ensure that all students learn and grow socially, emotionally, and academically over time.

  • work with partners in the departments of Health and Wellness, Community Services, and Justice to support students’ strengths and help address their challenges.

  • designate the responsibility for inclusive education at the Director level or higher.

  • allocate appropriate resources to support the delivery of inclusive education in their schools in accordance with the PSP.

  • provide principals and school staff with information and access to opportunities for professional development on inclusive education.

  • lead the system improvement planning process to gather evidence and set goals to improve student well-being and achievement.

  • guide the implementation of this policy and support interventions and strategies designed to improve student well-being and achievement.

  • work with principals to ensure that each school establishes a Teaching Support Team and Student Planning Teams as needed.

  • ensure every employee is accountable for adherence to the principles of inclusive education.

  • communicate this policy to schools, parents/guardians, and school communities.

  • monitor and evaluate the implementation of this policy in schools and ensure that the implementation of the Inclusive Education Policy and related guidelines in their schools is reviewed regularly.

• • Value student voice and choice and provide opportunities for them to speak to their strengths, challenges, and preferred ways of learning

  • Work with parents/guardians to help them feel welcome in the school community and to empower them as essential decision makers regarding programming and/or supports for their child

  • Work with parents/guardians to understand their preferred way of working with teachers, principals, and other staff and to accommodate it, as much as possible

  • Collaborate on decisions regarding instruction, interventions, and evaluation needed to best support an individual student’s Personalized Learning Plan, as well as the supports needed to assist the student’s teacher(s) in meeting the student’s strengths and challenges

  • Monitor and evaluate the success of the supports and interventions designed for the student and adjusted as needed

• • Attend school and actively engage in their learning

  • Actively participate by communicating their preferred ways of learning, strengths, and challenges.

  • Actively work with teachers and other staff to communicate when they need help or supports, or if there are barriers to their learning.

  • Promote student voice and choice by actively taking part in decisions with respect to their own learning and act as leaders within the school community

  • Take part in Student Planning Teams, when appropriate

• • value student voice and choice and provide opportunities for them to speak to their strengths, challenges, and preferred ways of learning.

  • work with parents/guardians to help them feel welcome in the school community and to empower

  • them as essential decision makers regarding programming and/or supports for their child, including, but not limited to, participating on Student Planning Teams.

  • work with parents/guardians to understand their preferred ways of working with teachers, principals, other staff, and to accommodate it as much as possible.

  • provide direct support to classroom teachers to meet the identified needs of their students.

  • promote students’ well-being and achievement by developing and implementing strategies with teachers and other staff.

  • provide specific interventions and support(s), primarily in classrooms or common learning environments, to individual students or small groups of students who may require focused and/or intensive interventions.

  • work collectively with school-based and regional support staff, as appropriate, to support teachers

  • in the delivery of instruction, assessment, and interventions to students.

  • maintain regular communication with students, parents/guardians, and other teachers and school staff with respect to students’ progress.

  • are accountable for adherence to the principles of inclusive education.

  • work with the Teaching Support Team to meet the needs of teachers and students.

  • work with Student Planning Teams through the Program Planning Process for individual students as needed.

  • assess and evaluate the effectiveness of their practices.

• • Value student voice and choice and provide opportunities for them to speak to their strengths, challenges, and preferred ways of learning

  • Work with parents/guardians to help them feel welcome in the school community and to empower them as essential decision makers regarding programming and/or supports for their child, including, but not limited to, participating on Student Planning Teams

  • Work with parents/guardians to understand their preferred way of working with teachers, principals, and other staff and make efforts to accommodate it

  • Promote student well-being and achievement in collaboration with other staff

  • Work collectively with school-based and regional support staff, as appropriate, to support the delivery of instruction and interventions to their students

  • Are accountable for adherence to the principles of inclusive education

  • Communicate regularly with students, parents/guardians, and other teachers and school staff with respect to student progress

  • Work with Teaching Support Team to meet the strengths and challenges of the students in their classroom

  • Serve as members of the Student Planning Teams for their students; work with the Student Planning Team through the Program Planning Process as needed, and be responsive to students and parents/guardians

  • Assess and evaluate the effectiveness of their instructional strategies

The primary role of the Teaching Support Team is to strengthen the school’s capacity to support student well-being and achievement by assisting teachers in developing strategies to meet the needs of their students. The team will focus on proactively building capacity among teaching staff and supporting changes in teaching practice to meet students needs and on identifying other supports needed as required

Every school will establish a Teaching Support Team that will meet frequently to deal with immediate issues facing teachers and quickly identify resources, people or strategies that can help those teachers more effectively support their students. The team, in collaboration with the classroom teacher, will monitor and evaluate the success of these supports and interventions. The principal or vice-principal will lead the team, which will also include learning support teachers. Teachers will attend if discussions involve their classroom, students, or teaching practices.

Regional/board support staff, such as, but not limited to, School Psychologist, Speech Language Pathologist, African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq support staff, Culturally Responsive and SchoolsPlus teams, consultants, coordinators and directors will provide additional supports to Teaching Support Teams, teachers, students, and families. These professionals work with Teaching Support Teams to support teachers in improving their teaching practices and to provide individual supports to the students that need them.