Violence in schools: What a drama project reveals about misogyny and teacher safety

An “artistic intervention” model
Many Good Men approaches this issue through interactive theatre and structured activities, rather than direct confrontation or traditional lectures. Cruickshank contrasts it with one‑to‑one conversations, whether led by teachers or violence‑reduction workers, which can struggle to move past a young person’s defensiveness and “self‑preservation.” Theatre‑based work, she argues, allows participants to explore fictional characters who experience misogynistic violence or are vulnerable to radicalization, and then experiment with alternative choices and outcomes at a safe distance from their own lives.

“There are a bunch of studies that show that it’s much more effective to do that sort of work artistically than just to have those conversations,” she says. In this model, the “intervention” – helping boys examine the ideas they encounter online and how they treat others – is the same, but it is delivered through stories, performance and creative problem‑solving.

Implications for Canadian school safety
Cruickshank stresses that educators should not be expected to tackle these issues alone. “This is a very difficult thing to tackle on your own without resources,” she says. Civic Digits has worked with EIS on an educator guide that introduces the language young people encounter online and offers practical workshop formats and activities. The goal is to give teachers and youth workers a vocabulary and set of tools, rather than leave them improvising in sensitive conversations.

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