Mitigating polarization and reducing youth distress and violence: a pilot project to rethink preventive approaches in schools

THE PROJECT

Globalization and the digital revolution have brought about rapid changes in society, contributing to a rise in social inequalities and tensions between communities and identities. The COVID-19 pandemic has also amplified social polarization phenomena, increasing psychological distress, particularly among young people. Educational institutions (high schools, CEGEPs, universities) are not immune to this context of social polarization, which is expressed mainly in manifestations of misogyny, homophobia/transphobia, xenophobia, racism and religious intolerance.

According to 380 school staff members surveyed by the Polarisation team in 2024-2025 , the types of polarization most frequently observed among students are: Racism/ethnicity (76%), gender and sexual orientation (72%), glorification of violence (57%). Schools are under severe strain.

This pilot project aims to develop and evaluate classroom-based interventions to mitigate the effects of the current wave of hate and violence, by improving social cohesion within the school and promoting spaces for expression and engagement that reduce young people’s distress and contribute to their well-being.

The project will take place in secondary schools in three different regions. It will include training for school teams and a series of creative expression workshops addressing young people’s concerns in the classroom. The evaluation will use a mixed-methods research design, convergent and longitudinal. The results will be used to identify good practices for supporting school teams and reducing violence and polarization in the school environment. The results will be used to transfer know-how to school service centers, inform decision-makers and enrich initial and in-service training programs in education, so as to ensure the sustainability of interventions.

THE OBJECTIVES

In general, the project aims to evaluate a school team training and youth intervention program implemented by the Scol-Art team to mitigate the psychological distress and conflict associated with the current wave of hate and violence in schools across the province of Quebec.

The specific objectives are:

• Document the training activities of the Scol-Art Team, aimed at equipping school teams to specifically address social polarization and associated violent incidents within schools;
• Document the development of class interventions carried out with Secondary 4 and 5 students by the Scol-Art team, continuously evaluating their implementation in terms of acceptability, feasibility and impact as perceived by the students and the school team;
• Transfer the know-how developed to the School Service Centres involved, so that the school community can appropriate the tools developed.

POTENTIAL IMPACT ON CHILDREN’S HEALTH

The results will make it possible to train and equip schools with immediately available tools and practices to prevent emerging forms of violence among young people, by considering social inequalities and social polarizations in a social justice approach.