The idea of becoming an international student is an attractive concept for both the school board and students. It enriches the school district financially and culturally. For students coming from overseas, it allows them to learn first hand about other cultures and customs, to create life long friendship across culture, and to gain new perspective on Canada and the world.

It gives students an understanding on how tightly connected the people and countries of the world are to each other. It opens young minds to the importance of understanding other languages and other cultures particularly with respect to career and personal opportunities.

But the main reason, international students are coming to us, is to benefit from a Canadian education. 

I have not kept up with the statistics lately but it seems to me the number of international students has increased. In our school alone, the international population has increased by 25% over the last year.

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It is the end of January and the time to meet with our new entering grade 8 students. Next week, my colleagues and I will go to elementary schools to start program planning. Program planning is the process where we explain to elementary school children what to expect when entering high school, we talk about various classes, extra curricular activities, life in high school in general etc.… 

When I ask students what a high school teacher does the typical answer is, “they teach their subject of choice”. It’s guaranteed I’ll hear a few “ duh ” and “ OMG, that was a weird question!” here and there in the process. But when I ask what a high school counsellor does there is usually a pause, followed by a timid uncertain answer, “a high school counsellor helps us out in choosing our courses?” Yes, I’ll guide you in choosing your courses, although in BC grade 8 options are not very complicated. Your only choice is to make sure you register in an elective that you like and not just because your friend is going into it. Anything else you think I might do besides guiding you in choosing your courses? Anyone…??? 

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In the news this past month there have been a number of stories that highlight the often devastating consequences of bullying in our schools. Despite attempts by schools to introduce zero tolerance policies and anti-bullying programs, school violence appears to be on the rise. When doing research on this issue it became clear that the success of these anti-bullying programs is directly related to the reporting of threats or violent incidents. This places the onus on students to reduce bullying in the schools. Oliver and Candappa (2007) stated that only 11% of adolescents are willing to report the problem to school personnel and that reporting rates are lowest among boys and minority groups.  Given the low rates of reporting among adolescents and the increase in the severity and number of incidents of bullying in the schools, it appears necessary to revisit the role of students in anti-bullying programming. 

Eliot et al. (2010) conducted a study examining the relationship between school climate and student willingness to seek help for bullying and threats of violence. The study used an “8-item scale to measure the extent to which students perceived that adults at school care about students, respect them, and want them to do well.” (p. 539). An additional 8-item scale was used to measure student willingness to seek help from school staff members for bullying and threats of violence. Findings suggested that students who perceive their school climate as supportive were more likely to report bullying to school personnel. A supportive school climate was defined by students as having caring and respectful teachers that took an interest in the students on an individual and personal level.

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