Procedural Fairness in School Discipline

Ensuring equitable and transparent processes to foster safe school communities

Procedural fairness is a legal principle which underscores the responsibility to ensure just and transparent processes when making decisions affecting students’ rights and interests. The Procedural Fairness in School Discipline Course is designed to strengthen the capacity of Ontario publicly funded school and system leaders to engage with families and students in transparent, impartial and trauma-informed ways following incidents involving students.

The fully online course delivery combines asynchronous learning, guided self-assessment, and live-facilitated virtual sessions to meet the needs of diverse adult learners. Designed for school administrators and supervisory officers who are dedicated to positively transforming their school environment, the course builds core competencies through scaffolded learning and context-responsive approaches.

Central emphasis is placed on effective community-based frameworks developed by Canadian Black and Indigenous scholars to examine how inequity in discipline decisions surface, and to identify the ethical, legal, and policy standards required in response.

Participants will:

• Learn to make evidence-informed decisions anchored in an ethic of human rights and apply the principles of procedural fairness to real-world case studies and disaggregated student data.
• Gain the critical awareness, ethical foundations, and practical strategies needed to foster safe, fair, and inclusive school communities, while complying with requirements under sections 306 and 310 of the Education Act and related policy and program memoranda.
• Bolster the skills to name and interrupt school and classroom realities, cultures and practices contributing to the current pattern of disproportionate discipline outcomes impacting racialized students, those living in poverty, and/or that have a disability, and students who identify across multiple intersections.

Course activities are sequenced to support the development of two main practical tools: an Ethical Practice Portfolio and a culminating Procedural Fairness Action Plan. Leaders will develop these context-specific plans for implementation in their own school or board, featuring strategies for accountability, and meaningful community engagement.

Upon completion of the course, participants will receive a Recognition of Completion from The Chang School at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Join us in helping to shape a more fair and safe learning student environment through trauma-informed, rights-based approaches to incidents involving students.

How to Register

To register your interest in this fully-funded program, complete the application form. After we receive your application, a representative from The Chang School will contact you with additional information.

Apply Now

Who Should Take This Course?

System leaders within Ontario's publicly funded education system:

• Principals and Vice-Principals
• Systems Principals
• Supervisory Officers of Schools and Families of Schools
• Supervisory Officers with responsibility for Safe Schools and Equity

What Will You Learn

Participants in this program will:

• Demonstrate applied leadership strategies and the capacity to model and embed procedural fairness principles while meeting their legal and professional obligations.
• Apply procedural fairness principles when addressing any incidents involving students and complex crisis situations.
• Interpret and use disaggregated identity-based data in relation to suspension and expulsions to identify disparities. Learning is anchored in how leaders understand and use quantitative and qualitative data to design and implement fair and just disciplinary processes as well as monitor impact of those on student outcomes.
• Understand how to critically analyze and examine suspension/expulsion practices and the role of implicit bias and systemic factors in disciplinary decision-making.
• Demonstrate trauma-informed, and principled decision-making practices that align with the Education Act and its regulations, the Human Rights Code, provincial policy and program memoranda, and local school policies.
• Advance meaningful and transparent engagement with students, families, and community members, particularly from marginalized groups (Black, Indigenous, disabled, and intersectional identities).
• Assess how one’s own identity, values, and positionality shape one’s actions, decision making and exercise of discretion in school discipline and leadership practices.

Key Program Information

Dates: The program runs from the week of November 17, 2025 and ends on January 25, 2026.

Delivery Format:

The program will include a blended learning model of online, self-directed (asynchronous), and virtual instructor-led (synchronous) facilitated sessions and reflective discussions.

The virtual instructor-led (synchronous) sessions will be held for six of the nine weeks on Tuesday evenings.

Questions?

Contact Samantha Pong, Project Coordinator, at chang.training@torontomu.ca.

This program was developed by Toronto Metropolitan University with Ministry of Education funding.