School breaks privilege Christmas, and classroom strategies are needed to foster inclusion |
What some school boards now call the “winter break,” over the days leading up to and after Christmas, is approaching.
But in Canada’s diverse public schools, centring one religious holiday sends a subtle message to many children: your family’s traditions don’t quite belong here.
Our publicly funded schools are designed to be welcoming to everyone. Ministries of education and school curricula acknowledge the importance of equity and inclusion in supporting student learning, yet how this is applied in different contexts and classrooms can vary widely.
The focus around Christmas — experienced as holidays that privilege this festival, and sometimes also experienced as winter-themed events that pick up Christmas aspects — can make students from different cultural and religious backgrounds feel marginalized or left out.
As educators look to best practices for implementing guidance around supporting inclusion and affirming diversity in their classrooms, there are opportunities to build in-classroom activities that genuinely reflect and embrace every learner in our vibrant pluralistic communities.
When a child’s family life, traditions or identity are missing from the school environment, this can have adverse consequences.
Research shows that school social exclusion is consistently linked to poorer well‑being, higher emotional distress and even changes in adolescent brain development. Large-scale studies have also shown that exclusion undermines belonging, while belonging acts as a protective factor for mental health and engagement. In other words, inclusion isn’t optional, it is essential for students’ emotional safety and academic success.
On the........