Saskatchewan Curriculums Embed Injury Prevention and Safety

The Saskatchewan Safety Council has partnered with the Ministry of Education to review and provide feedback on strengthening injury prevention and safety procedures and practices in Saskatchewan curriculums. What will change for Saskatchewan students, educators, and school communities?

​The MOU that has been signed forms an integral part of the Community Safety Education Strategy.

Photo: Reagan Coppicus, A Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP), delivers Fire Extinguisher training to high school students. (archive photo)

What is the Community Safety Education Strategy?
 
The Community Safety Education Strategy (CSES) was created in 2019 to provide school divisions a unified strategic approach to ensure education stakeholders are informed, involved, and engaged in creating a culture of safety for students, employees, and community.

Why was the Community Safety Education Strategy created?

A solution to ending our provincial unintentional injury epidemic lies in teaching future generations injury prevention values at an early age. Developing a cultural norm with injury prevention as a core value, however, takes a collaborative effort among students, parents, staff, community members, government, and industry. The Community Safety Education Strategy provides the necessary structure for this initiative.

Integral to the strategy are four pillars:

​How does the Saskatchewan Safety Council contribute to this strategy?
​
The Saskatchewan Safety Council has focused attention on High Quality Teaching and Learning. In December 2021, Saskatchewan Safety Council and Saskatchewan Ministry of Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intent to support and enable Saskatchewan curriculums to incorporate injury prevention (safety) outcomes and indicators where appropriate; and provide injury prevention resources that are supported by industry with best practice standards in health and safety.

Photo: Barbara Compton, Community Safety Education Strategy Coordinator

The Ministry of Education Curriculum Unit reviews new and renewed curriculum documents that are used by teachers. Working closely with the Saskatchewan Safety Council Community Safety Education Strategy Coordinator, Barbara Compton; B.ED & M.ED Curriculum and Instruction, two-way communication is facilitated with feedback being provided on opportunities to strengthen injury prevention and safety procedures and practices.
 
The Council works with the Ministry of Education to provide safety expertise from Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (CRSP's) in developing outcomes and indicators that will be embedded in new and existing curriculums.
 
The Council works with the ministry to either source appropriate resources, or where resources cannot be found, create custom resources to meet learning outcomes. Ministry approved resources are then posted on the provincial curriculum website to ensure teachers, regardless of geographical locations, have access to valuable teaching tools.

---

What does this mean for the education community?
 
The intended goal of this MOU is well-informed students, surrounded by healthy physical and social environments in community that supports living injury free. Though there is now a structure in place to ensure high quality learning outcomes are reached, this process needs feedback from those on the front lines in Saskatchewan education settings to cite areas where improvement is needed.
 
Educators that deliver these curriculums will be in position to identify opportunities to include or improve injury prevention language and skills. As injury prevention finds its way into curriculums, educators embracing these changes will champion injury prevention and safety skills for youth, paving the way for improved injury prevention outcomes not only in the workplace, but in recreation, leisure, and all areas of life as well.
 
Looking for easy-to-use safety education material? Free Community Safety Resources are available.