Seclusion room usage in Alberta
Karra Smith, Staff Writer
As Albertans across the province prepare to vote for local school board trustees, Trish Bowman, CEO of Inclusion Alberta, continues to raise awareness about the use of seclusion and restraints in the learning environment.
Despite some seeing the methods as controversial and the advocacy group Inclusion Alberta calling for a ban on the practice, the Alberta Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides says in an email statement to The Reflector that seclusion rooms will “continue to be an exceptional intervention reserved for emergency situations.”
“It’s a very harmful practice, and I think it’s important to note, it’s not an educational practice,” says Bowman.
According to the Alberta Government, “A seclusion room is defined as a room, structure or enclosure in a school operated by a school authority, the primary purpose or use of which involves the involuntary confinement or isolation of a student where the student is prevented or incapable of evacuating from the room, structure or enclosure without the assistance of another person because security measures are not under the students control.”
Inclusion Alberta is an advocacy organization designed to provide support to families with children and adults who have intellectual disabilities. For many years, the group has called for the release of usage statistics and pushed for the removal of these practices in schools across the province.
“Up until 2019, there was no requirement to report on the use of seclusion in Alberta schools, so we really didn’t have any data,” Bowman says.
Bowman went on to say that following the organisation’s “sustained advocacy,” standards were put in place that required school districts to report on the numbers.
“And you know what we learned, it didn’t surprise us, but unfortunately, it still shocked us,” says Bowman. “Our most recent data that we’ve been able to obtain, you know, shows that in approximately 59 public and catholic school divisions across the province, only 11 actually report having seclusion rooms and we’re still seeing, you know, thousands of usages in a year.”
According to information collected by Inclusion Alberta, both the Calgary Public School Division and the Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School Division are among the 11 divisions with active seclusion rooms.
The Reflector reached out to the Calgary Board of Education, but they declined an interview. They did send an email stating they are committed to ensuring “welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments.”
Although the use of seclusion rooms is considerably controversial, associate professor in school and applied child psychology at the University of Calgary, Gabrielle Wilcox, says the context matters.
“I think whether or not there is stigma depends on how they are used and the settings in which they are used,” she says. “In the places where I worked, for some kids there were benefits of removing stimulation.”
Wilcox says that programs such as Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, a training course available through various providers, can be useful for educators and other staff who work with children who “have really severe needs.”
According to Wilcox, the use of seclusion should never be the first option, and when a situation calls for this method, it is important for a thorough review to be conducted afterwards.
“I like to kind of relate it to academics, like if a kid can’t do long division we don’t go ‘that’s a problem you’re in trouble’ but if a kid doesn’t know how to ask for help sometimes that’s what happens—so we really need to pay attention to where those skill deficits are and find ways to support them in gaining those skills.”
As for the future of seclusion rooms in Alberta, the Minister of Education and Childcare told The Reflector in an email statement that they will remain in place as a method to be used sparingly.
“In 2019, the government worked with school boards to establish provincial standards to guide the use of seclusion and restraint. These standards were developed to prevent misuse and to protect the well-being, safety and dignity of students and staff,” says Nicolaides.
He also says that it is the individual school board’s responsibility to ensure the circumstances that deem these practices necessary are in accordance with Alberta standards.
“Seclusion and physical restraint are considered measures of last resort, used only in exceptional circumstances where there is an imminent risk to the safety of a student or others,” says Nicolaides.
