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An award-winning DVD that examines how care is factored into our schools will be premiered on Monday, Dec. 6, 4 – 7 p.m. at Simon Fraser University’s Halpern Centre in Burnaby.

Dare to Care: Transforming Schools Through the Ethics of Care, describes the role that ethical caring can play in schools and the wider community.

The DVD highlights the individual research projects of 14 educators who met regularly to discuss issues related to the ethics of care and education beyond just the academics.

The educators used various strategies to create or enhance a culture of care within their schools.

“We all want to know that our schools are caring environments, and our focus is on what we can do to foster that,” says SFU education professor Wanda Cassidy, director of SFU’s Centre for Education, Law and Society, based at SFU Surrey.

Cassidy specializes in legal education and related issues, including cyber-bullying and instilling compassion in youth. “Caring isn’t something we try to teach. It’s something we have to live.”

The DVD is a joint project between the centre and Life is Short Entertainment (and directors Mike Hawley and Darcy Van Poelgeest) and is based on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Cassidy and fellow professors Heesoon Bai and Kumari Beck worked with the videographers to document the projects.

“One principal decided to hold a weekly informal discussion with staff on the ethics of care to see how they might deliberately decide to act in a caring responsive way, based on respect, and work in the best interest of others around them,” says Cassidy.

“At first only two or three came but by the year’s end nearly all staff members had bought in, and the whole tone of the school changed.

“The staff began to engage the young people and their families, starting up a reading group which saw grandparents, many from South Asian backgrounds, read to the kids in their own languages.

“They also abandoned a zero tolerance approach to acting-out behaviour, as it failed to address the deeper issues of why the problem arose in the first place.  Instead, the school sought to prevent problems through developing a culture of care and respect among students and between staff and students.  The changes in the school were remarkable."

In September, Dare to Care won the award for Best Documentary Under 30 Minutes at the Global Community Film Festival in Toronto. The National Film Board has picked up worldwide distribution rights.

To see a trailer of the DVD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTM8XlZa1a8

To attend the premiere rsvp: cels@sfu.ca

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