Safe and Caring Program Areas
The Safe and Caring Schools & Communities (SACSC) programs are prevention oriented, research-based and have been developed to mitigate the root causes of violence.
Supporting a Safe and Caring School
Toward a Safe and Caring Curriculum
Supporting a Safe and Caring Teaching Profession
Toward a Safe and Caring Community
To meet its object, the Society for SACSC has developed four program areas:
Supporting a Safe and Caring School
The objective of this program area is to build a safe and caring school environment. Based on extensive input from school communities and other education stakeholders, SACSC developed “Supporting a Safe and Caring School: Common Attributes,” a document describing the features of a safe and caring school. SACSC worked collaboratively with health and guidance to develop a student survey that will help schools rate their success in each of the attribute areas. SACSC has developed resources in each of its program areas to assist schools in strengthening the attribute areas in which they are weak. A number of resources available in this program area include Supporting a Safe and Caring School: Principals’ Best (a compilation of strategies that principals have found effective in facilitating a safe and caring school environment), guides for extracurricular programs, and various manuals and videos on peer education, volunteer mentorship, peer support and classroom meetings. SACSC reviews research on SACSC topics and condenses the information into quick, easy-to-read booklets. Topics include a series on diversity and another on bullying, as well as individual booklets on the brain and how a child learns, media violence, peer education and mentorship. Staff has presented workshops on these topics and on developing school-wide SACS plans.
Please click here to review the SACSC resources from this program area
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Toward a Safe and Caring Curriculum
The objective of this program area is to develop safe and caring knowledge, skills and attitudes through study of prescribed curriculum. Resources have been developed to help teachers integrate violence-prevention and character education into all subject areas in the Alberta Program of Studies and Western Canadian Protocol Initiatives from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The elementary resource is titled Toward a Safe and Caring Curriculum—ATA Resources for Integration: Kindergarten to Grade 6, and the secondary resource, Toward a Safe and Caring Secondary Curriculum—Teachers’ Lessons and Strategies. These resources are recommended and approved by Alberta Leaning. They are divided into five topics:
- Living Respectfully
- Developing Self-Esteem
- Respecting Diversity and Preventing Prejudice
- Managing Anger and Dealing with Bullying
- Working It Out Together
Each of the K–Grade 6 resources is full of hundreds of learning activities. They are literacy-based and address all of the learning outcomes in language arts, 90% in science, 90% in social studies, 90% in physical education, 50% in math, 90% in health, 50% in music, 60% in drama and 70% of the outcomes in the art curriculum. The grades 7–12 resource is a compilation of unit and lesson plans that integrate knowledge, skill and attitude outcomes from the five topics into the curriculum in all subject areas. The Toward a Safe and Caring Curriculum resources emphasize violence prevention and character education.
Please click here to review the SACSC resources from this program area or
click here to view the SACSC Secondary Unit and Lesson Plans
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Supporting a Safe and Caring Teaching Profession
The objective of this program area is to develop a safe and caring teaching profession. SACSC trains curriculum leaders and workshop facilitators. As a result, local facilitators are available to deliver the following workshops at the school or district levels. Both workshops are designed to help teachers implement the curriculum resources described above.
- Toward a Safe and Caring Curriculum—ATA Resources for Integration: Kindergarten to Grade 6
- Toward a Safe and Caring Secondary Curriculum—Approaches for Integration
Also available are a series of short sessions focused on strengthening SACSC teaching methods. Post secondary credit is available from some Alberta institutions.
Please click here to review the SACSC resources from this program area
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Toward a Safe and Caring Community
The objective of the community program area is to have all adults model and reinforce safe and caring behaviour. The program is premised on the belief that, to affect students’ attitudes and behaviours both in and out of school, a program consistent with the school program must be available to parents and other people in the community.
The community program consists of a series of workshops for adults and older teens. These workshops, based on the topics addressed in the Toward a Safe and Caring Curriculum program, are designed to help all adults who work with children—parents, teachers, coaches, youth group leaders, music instructors—model and reinforce positive social behaviour, whether at school, at home, in the community or in the workplace.
Through its community workshop facilitator training program the Society helps build capacity at the community level and sustainability of its programming.
This program urges communities to establish Safe and Caring Community Action Committees to implement the Toward a Safe and Caring Community program and promote violence prevention in the community. A resource developed to streamline the work of Community Action Committees is the Action Handbook: A Guide to Implementation.
Because of their strong involvement with young people at the community level, the Lions Clubs of Alberta have supported the development and delivery of the Toward a Safe and Caring Community program.
.Please click here to review the SACSC resources from this program area
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