Presentations, Workshops and Trainings
Through the 2024-2025 school year, the Human Rights Branch (HRB) developed and facilitated 27 workshops and training opportunities for over 1600 WRDSB staff members. Many of these opportunities provided opportunities for interdepartmental collaboration and co-facilitation of human rights focused learning. They were tailored to the contexts of different employee groups and departmental operations.
Topics of workshops and trainings included:
- Three Case Law Review Sessions for Administrators
- System Operations Management for Administrators – Creed Accommodations and Gender Identity/Expression Accommodations
- Panel for Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region
- Equity and Human Rights for Educational Assistants (EAs) and Child and Youth Workers (CYWs)
- Two-day human rights training for administrators (two cohorts)
- Two-day human rights training for managers/officers
- Leading for Change (two cohorts)
- Human Rights for Retired Administrators
- Duty to Accommodate with Facilities Services
- Accessible Communications Training
- Affinity Leads Session
Participant Feedback
The Human Rights Branch uses a feedback system for these sessions that asks participants to respond to three key questions. Participants responded using a likert scale (1 – not at all to 5 – significantly). Participants were also asked if they had any additional feedback to share.
The feedback from presentation, workshop and training participants this year was:
To what extent did the session increase your knowledge of the subject matter?
84% of participants (n=234) rated this question a 4 or 5 indicating that the sessions were a significant contributor to increasing participants knowledge of the subject matter.
| Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Responses | 2 | 8 | 28 | 113 | 83 |
Was the session relevant to the scope of your work at the WRDSB?
91% (n=234) of respondents responded with a 4 or 5; only 1% of respondents indicated 1 or 2. Indicates that the HRB succeeded in delivering highly relevant trainings, presentations and workshops to WRDSB members.
| Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Responses | 1 | 2 | 17 | 58 | 156 |
After today’s training, do you feel more confident about integrating and implementing the information and ideas into your work at the WRDSB?
82% (n=234) of respondents responded with a 4 or 5; 3% of participants responded with a 1 or a 2. Indicates that the HRB’s trainings, workshops and presentations have contributed to building the confidence of staff to integrate human rights knowledge and principles into their work.
| Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Responses | 2 | 6 | 35 | 97 | 94 |
Human Rights Two-Day Intensive Training for Administrators, Managers and Officers
In the 2024-2025 school year, the Human Rights Branch offered three, two-day sessions of intensive human rights training for administrators, managers and officers with leading legal experts and academics from the Province. These sessions represent a significant training opportunity for our system leaders. Qualitative feedback is included below to highlight the impact and importance of these sessions to our system leaders.
Feedback from Participants
“It was geared at an appropriate intellectual level for administrators and it focused on current relevant topics. Most importantly, especially in the case of our afternoon guest speaker it provided us with a framework and language to use when engaging with students, caregivers, and community members about complex human rights and equity issues.”
“This was the best Human Rights training I have been part of. [The] presentation was invaluable and I feel empowered with the tools I need to have hard conversations about situations involving code protected grounds. Thank you for organizing this.”
“A very useful and important use of time – case study was particularly important – being able to connect with peers and discuss the details of the scenario”
“I thought the combination of speakers flowed well to review and expand my understanding of human rights and the education context, and build confidence in a process to address human rights claims in my work.”
“I appreciated the case scenarios and the law foundation aspect of thinking about rights. What resonated most with me is the breakdown which strengthens our foundational knowledge in making or thinking through human rights concerns. The frameworks will certainly be utilized in recognizing, reconciling and then making decisions when it comes to human rights concerns. I currently have a few going on at my campus and these session notes will be applicable immediately.”
“This work was great. It needs to be part of our ongoing learning at admin. If we collectively can manage Human Rights issues better we can no doubt function better as a board.”
“I feel like the words human rights are frequently thrown out and that has provided me with a better understanding and context for navigating these kinds of conversations.”
Observe Uphold Respect – O.U.R. Human Rights
Student Human Rights Symposium
In December 2024 the Human Rights Branch hosted a Student Human Rights Symposium bringing together 85 Grade 7 and 8 students and 21 educators for a day of connection and learning on the theme “Observe, Uphold, Respect – O.U.R. Human Rights”.
Workshops offered by community partners offered students the chance to learn about topics of their choosing. Students and educators had the chance to connect and identify action steps to build a human rights culture at their schools.
Read more: Students Come Together to Build an Understanding of Human Rights
The symposium was also the opportunity to launch the elementary human rights poster that has been distributed to all elementary school sites. The poster was developed with insights and feedback from earlier student engagement during the 2023-2024 school year.
Feedback from Students and Staff
- 71/84 students agreed or strongly agreed that they were motivated by the keynote
- 64/84 students agreed or strongly agreed that the workshop was inspiring and informative
- 75/84 students expressed hope that there are more opportunities to engage with human rights at their schools
- All staff (20/20) agreed or strongly agreed that they were motivated by the keynote speaker
- 19/20 staff agreed or strongly agreed that the workshop was inspiring and informative
- All staff (20/20) agreed or strongly agreed that they hope that there are more opportunities to engage with human rights at their schools
Human Rights Lesson Plans for All Divisions
In the summer of 2025, the HRB worked alongside four educators to develop lesson plans. These plans connect existing curriculum strands for each division to learn about human rights. They will provide entry points for educators to embed human rights learning for students in every division. These will be shared with the system in the 2025-2026 school year.
Categories: Human Rights
