Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is the only province in Canada to have formally prohibited collective punishment in its public schools. Under Section 40 of the provincial School Code of Conduct Policy, schools are barred from applying consequences to an entire group for the actions of one or a few students. This legal clarity sets Nova Scotia apart—and provides a model for rights-respecting discipline nationwide. This page brings together resources, reflections, and policy analysis from within Nova Scotia’s education system.
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Why we’re tracking collective punishment across Canada
In classrooms across this country, children still lose recess for things they didn’t do. Field trips are cancelled because someone else acted out. Privileges are revoked—en masse—because a teacher felt the group needed a lesson. These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a widespread practice known as collective punishment: the disciplining of a group…
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Comparison of Provincial and Territorial rules on collective punishment in schools
Across Canada, policies on student discipline vary widely—but only one province, Nova Scotia, has taken the decisive step of explicitly banning collective punishment in schools. In April 2025, Nova Scotia revised its Provincial School Code of Conduct Policy to require individualised responses to student behaviour, affirming that group-based discipline is not just ineffective but unjust.…
