3.6 Standards & Boundaries for Working w/Students

Updated: October 2023

Crescent School has, throughout its history, reached out to develop the whole boy in service to its mission: men of character from boys of promise. At Crescent, every student should feel known and cared for who he is; this is the fundamental work of the school. It is the purpose of this policy to define a safe professional space within which teachers may continue to reach out to individual students such that neither student nor teacher need feel vulnerable: either to misconstruction or to actual malpractice. This policy reflects Crescent School’s commitment to providing a safe and secure learning environment for everyone in its community. While written primarily for teachers, it applies to everyone who works with students.

This policy is written in accordance with the Ontario College of Teachers’ Professional Advisory on Professional Boundaries, approved on October 1, 2020 (see below).

Crescent School Policy Statement

At Crescent School, teachers reach out to get to know and to care for each boy; it is a fundamental part of who we are as a school and what we do as a team of professional educators. However, no teacher does this in isolation. Teachers are guided in all of their interactions with students by Crescent’s core values: Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Compassion. Furthermore, all of those who work with students at Crescent know that they work as a part of a team. Accordingly, Crescent School has established and maintains the following professional standards and boundaries:

Teachers understand and act in accordance with the Ontario College of Teachers' “Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession.” Those ethical standards are Care, Respect, Trust, and Integrity. (see below)
Consistent with Crescent’s core values, teachers respect the dignity and well-being of all students. Teachers’ decisions and actions must meet or exceed the standard of care required, which is that of a reasonably careful or prudent parent in the circumstances.
Teachers maintain known, visible and supported interactions with students. A teacher’s interactions with individual students must always be known to, supported by, and if possible, visible to others.
Teachers work as a team to support students. All staff are expected to communicate in a timely and consistent way with the appropriate colleague, professional support person, and/or administrator with respect to their individual interactions with students.
Teachers are aware of and, as appropriate, make use of the support professionals arrayed around them. This includes making people aware of individual interactions with students, providing relevant information about individual students, seeking advice when advising students, and referring students when topics move beyond the teacher’s comfort level and/or professional expertise.
Teachers are expected to participate in the training provided to support this policy.

Summary

Crescent School works toward its mission: men of character from boys of promise through its teachers’ commitment to know and care for each boy. Crescent’s teachers maintain, develop, and protect their ability to perform this fundamental work through their adherence to three core principles:

Inform colleagues so that our decisions and actions with respect to a student are known and understood.
Consult with colleagues in order to share the responsibility of care and to ensure that our decisions and actions are always in the best interests of the student.
Support each other so that we ensure that we always act as a team of educators committed to the highest professional standards in all of our interactions with each other and our students.

Ontario College of Teachers: Professional Advisory on Professional Boundaries

On October 1, 2020, the Council of the Ontario College of Teachers approved a Professional Advisory on Professional Boundaries. Crescent School acknowledges that the Professional Advisory applies to all employees who are Ontario Certified Teachers, and it remains appropriate guidance for employees who are not.

In summary, the Professional Advisory states the following:

“Boundaries” are defined, in accordance with the NASDTEC Model Code of Ethics for Educators (2015) as “the verbal, physical, emotional and social distances that an educator must maintain in order to ensure structure, security, and predictability in an educational environment. Most often, the boundaries that are transgressed relate to role, time and place. By respecting contracted roles, appropriate working hours, and the location of the learning environment, secure boundaries are in place for all members of the schooling community.”
Violations of communication boundaries include, but are not limited to:
- using an unprofessional tone; too casual; using language inappropriate to the age group
- suggestive remarks; obscene language; inappropriate verbal compliments; comments that are racist, homophobic, sexist or related to ableism; using hurtful, humiliating words; berating students
- sharing jokes of a sexual or racial/cultural nature
- talking about sexually inappropriate matters
- refusing to stop discussing intimate/sexual matters when a student asks
- using social media to connect with students about intimate or sexual matters
- withholding information about academic performance to manipulate time alone with the student
- asking sexual or intimate questions of students
- sending messages that are overly familiar, inappropriate, or invasive of the student‘s privacy
Violations of physical boundaries include, but are not limited to:
- inappropriate eye contact and interpersonal distance such as staring at a student’s body
- physical contact such as touching, hugging, tickling, massaging
- unwarranted, unwanted or inappropriate touching of a student with an object such as a pencil or ruler
- pushing, shoving or hitting a student
- unwarranted presence when a student is dressing or undressing
Violations of emotional boundaries include, but are not limited to:
- treating students preferentially
- encouraging students to develop emotional dependencies that the educator can use to develop an inappropriate romantic or sexual relationship
- promoting the idea of educator as friend or confidante
- intentionally choosing not to intervene when a student is in imminent distress
Violations of relationship boundaries include, but are not limited to:
- flirting or expressing romantic feelings towards students in any form
- engaging in a romantic and/or sexual relationship with a student
- meeting a student or students alone, outside of school, without an educational context and/or the knowledge/approval of a supervisor and/or parents/guardians such as going for coffee to a social event or inviting them to a party
- using technology to start or perpetuate a relationship outside of the appropriate role, time, and place governing educator-student interactions
Violations of technology boundaries include, but are not limited to:
- using social media to communicate inappropriately with students at any time
- using personal email, websites or social media or technology not authorized by the employer to communicate inappropriately with students
Violations of financial boundaries include, but are not limited to:
- singling out students by giving them money or gifts in a preferential manner
Educators hold authority and students trust their safety and welfare to them. Boundary violations occur when the imbalance of power tips toward serving the educator’s needs, not the student’s, and the student’s welfare is compromised.
Educators, too, can be vulnerable and susceptible to at-risk conduct. Difficulties in one’s personal life, a need for recognition, attention or admiration may be cause for inappropriate behaviour. Awareness of one’s motivation is key. OCTs should not seek emotional support or consolation from students, regardless of the difficulties they themselves may be facing professionally or personally. They need to be aware that their own well-being has an influence on that of their students.
The onus is always on the educator to set and maintain boundaries – those that clearly separate professional conduct necessary to meet student needs and personal opinions, feelings and relationships that are not germane to helping students. Boundary violations create a dual relationship or role that is incompatible with a professional educator-student relationship. For example, students may mistake an educator’s friendliness for friendship. Not only must educators not forget the distinction, but they have an ongoing duty to help students understand the difference.
Those who work with special needs students may require physical contact that would be inappropriate with other students. If possible, it is best to have another adult present. Those working in smaller, religious, language or cultural communities may also need to consider alternative approaches to maintain proper professional boundaries. It’s important to maintain respect for the worth of each student and empathy for what they experience.
Working in smaller communities can present additional challenges as educators are more likely to know or socialize with parents of their students, and as parents themselves, in clubs, associations or in sporting circles as leaders, participants, instructors or coaches. Consequently, they will have legitimate reasons to attend social events, visit each other in their homes and contribute to the well-being of the community. In these circumstances, educators should continue to ensure that any social contact with students happens with the full knowledge and approval of their parents/guardians. In addition, in social settings, educators should avoid being alone with students and discussing their learning, progress or any workplace matters.

The full Professional Advisory can be found at https://www.oct.ca/resources/advisories/professional-boundaries.

Ontario College of Teachers: Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession

The teaching profession fosters the growth of dedicated and competent educators. Members of the profession uphold the dignity and honour of the profession through their practice.

Members of the Ontario College of Teachers in their positions of trust and influence:

maintain professional relationships with students
recognize and respect the privileged nature of the relationship that teachers maintain with students
demonstrate impartial and consistent respect for all students as individuals with distinctive and ongoing learning needs and capacities
respect confidential information about students unless disclosure is required by law or personal safety is at risk
model respect for human dignity, spiritual values, cultural values, freedom, social justice, democracy and the environment
work with members of the College and others to create a professional environment that supports the social, physical, intellectual, spiritual, cultural, moral and emotional development of students
base relationships with parents or guardians in their role as partners in the education of students, on respect, trust and communication
co-operate with professionals from other agencies in the interest of students and as required by law
act with integrity, honesty, fairness and dignity
respect the confidential nature of information about members of the College obtained in the course of professional practice unless disclosure is required by law or personal safety is at risk
comply with the acts and regulations
advise the appropriate people in a professional manner when policies or practices exist that should be reviewed or revised.