Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Designed to provide education students, teachers, counsellors and school administrators with a comprehensive understanding of the legal issues and potential legal liabilities encountered in the BC public school system. Special attention is devoted to the legal dimensions and consequences of routine classroom and administrative activity. Topics include: sexual abuse by school board employees; negligence and supervision; private lifestyles and community standards; discipline and corporal punishment; sexual harassment in the workplace; responsibility for curriculum fulfillment; liability outside school hours; and the AIDS controversy.

COURSE DETAILS:

 

The course introduces students to case law, landmark court decisions, and policies that have had a significant impact on educational policy and practice. There is a strong relationship between law and education; for example, the Canadian Association for the Practical Study of Law in Education (CAPSLE), brings together lawyers and educators to jointly address the complex dilemmas that arise in today’s schools. Today schools are faced with several challenges: increasing technology; parent/teacher relationships; privacy; students' rights; bullying; inclusion; discrimination; copyright issues, etc.

Decisions based on Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms have established a body of law that affects educators. Courts have examined the substance of school policies, legislation, and curriculum content to ensure they meet constitutional guidelines and comply with the rights guaranteed to students, teachers, and parents. The courts have been particularly vocal with respect to educational programming for children with special needs; discrimination involving gender, freedom of expression, race, and sexual orientation; freedom of religion and conscience; and privacy rights involved in search and seizure.

As school policies and programs are scrutinized to ensure that they apply Charter principles, teachers and education officials increasingly run the risk of being sued over what is taught in classrooms or what is omitted from the curriculum. Administrators and teachers alike face the challenge of balancing the competing rights of students and parents with the demands of community interest groups, while also fulfilling the expectations of the curriculum. School administrators can be held vicariously liable for the actions of their teachers in situations that involve violence in schools. Thus, it is important for teachers to know how their actions may affect their employers. A number of parents in British Columbia have commenced litigation against school boards, principals, and parents for failing to protect their children from bullying under human rights and civil law. While most of these cases have been settled out of court, they raise concerns about the vulnerability of educators. Under tort law (civil law), teachers and principals have duties under the doctrine of in loco parentis (standing in place of the parents) to provide a standard of care. This duty was established by common law over time. Tort law is reviewed in this course to explain the tests the courts use to determine whether there has been a breach of duty of care. As a result, it is important for teachers and school administrators to gain an increased understanding, not only of law in its formal or disciplinary sense, but also of its more substantive nature. Substantive law includes those aspects of the law informed by the principles of natural justice, due process, human rights, and Charter obligations. Moreover, in the quest to keep schools safe, teachers with well-grounded knowledge in the substantive principles of law will more likely succeed in educating children to become socially responsible citizens.

The legal aspects covered in this course are discussed in the broader context of school concerns that are often at the heart of public and political debate regarding educational policy and practice. Do not be concerned if you have limited knowledge of the law. The assigned readings provide sufficient background on Canadian legal institutions 2 and judicial decision-making to help you understand the legal concepts relevant to teaching that are explored in this course.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

On completion of this course, you should:

• Be able to conceptualize a general understanding of the structure of our judicial system.
• Access court cases through the Internet and law libraries; interpret reasons for judgment; and identify and separate the facts, issues, reasons for judgment, and final decision.
• Explain the importance of an entrenched Charter and the way in which the courts apply Charter sections that are relevant in the school context.
• Articulate what we mean when we refer to principles of justice in a free and democratic society and how policies and practices can be reasonably justified.
• Locate legal statutes that are relevant to the school context, including the Youth Criminal Justice Act, provincial human rights legislation, provincial school acts, and copyright law.
• Describe the legal doctrine of in loco parentis (standing in place of the parent) and the body of common and civil law that imposes on teachers and school officials a duty of care and the requirement to provide a standard of care.

You will find these legal concepts easier to comprehend because they are discussed in the context of interesting and often controversial issues and concerns that arise in our contemporary and diversified public school system. Today’s educators must balance discipline with care while respecting the competing rights and interests of a broad range of public-school stakeholders. Some issues are so new that court decisions are still pending, or the courts have not yet had opportunities to address them.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: