Here is a definition of the terminology used on this site.
- psychological safety: Psychological safety refers to an environment where individuals feel able to express concerns, ask questions, or make mistakes without fear of humiliation or punishment. In schools, psychological safety supports learning by allowing students to engage openly and take risks in the learning process. Learn more
- PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after exposure to traumatic events involving threat, harm, or intense fear. Symptoms may include intrusive memories, heightened anxiety, avoidance behaviours, and difficulty regulating emotions. Learn more
- public education: Learn more
- punitive culture: Punitive culture refers to institutional environments where punishment is the primary response to challenges or behavioural concerns. In such cultures, systems may prioritise discipline and compliance over understanding underlying needs or providing supportive interventions. Learn more
- Punitive discipline: Punitive discipline refers to disciplinary practices that focus primarily on punishment rather than addressing the underlying causes of behaviour. These approaches may rely on exclusion, loss of privileges, or other penalties intended to deter behaviour. Learn more
- race: Race refers to a social category used to classify people based on perceived physical characteristics such as skin colour. Although race has no biological basis, it has historically shaped social structures, power relationships, and experiences of discrimination. Learn more
- racialised discipline: Racialised discipline refers to patterns where students from certain racial or ethnic groups are disciplined more frequently or more harshly than others. Research in many education systems has found disparities in disciplinary outcomes that raise concerns about bias and systemic inequality. Learn more
- racialised students: Racialised students are students who experience social categorisation and treatment based on racial identity. The term emphasises that race is socially constructed and that experiences of race are shaped by social and institutional dynamics. Learn more
- racism: Racism refers to beliefs, actions, or systems that produce unequal treatment or disadvantage based on race. Racism can operate through individual behaviour, institutional policies, or broader social structures that reinforce inequality. Learn more
- raising a concern: Raising a concern refers to bringing attention to a problem or issue affecting a student or school community. Concerns may be raised informally through conversations with staff or formally through complaints or appeals. Learn more
- rationing care: Allocation of support based on scarcity logic. Schools frame accommodations, staffing, and resources as limited, distributing them through triage systems that prioritise perceived severity, compliance, or institutional convenience rather than legal obligation. Rationing positions support as charity requiring justification rather than right requiring provision. Rationing care produces hierarchies of deserving students, denies accommodations to those deemed less urgent, and treats systemic underfunding as natural constraint rather than political choice. Learn more
- re-entry planning: Learn more
- reasonable accommodation: Learn more
- record keeping: Learn more
- recording meetings: Recording meetings means creating an audio or other record of what is said during a school discussion. Families may consider recording when accuracy, power imbalance, memory, conflict, or later accountability make ordinary note-taking insufficient. Learn more
- recovery: Recovery refers to the process of healing and rebuilding stability after harm, stress, or trauma. In education contexts, recovery may involve restoring a sense of safety, rebuilding trust, and ensuring supportive conditions for learning. Learn more
- reduced attendance: Learn more
- reduced hours: Reduced hours are limits on the amount of time a student attends school each day or week. When connected to disability or unmet support needs, reduced hours should be treated as an access concern requiring reasons, documentation, review dates, and a plan to rebuild full participation. Learn more
- reduced schedule: Learn more
- reduced schedules: Reduced schedules are arrangements that shorten or restrict a student’s school attendance. They may be presented as temporary support, but without clear accommodation planning they can become informal exclusion and shift the cost of system failure onto the family. Learn more