10 Ways Schools Can Build Safe Learning Environments

Students aren’t productive when they’re compelled to receive education in unsafe, unhealthy, and even harmful environments. These learning atmospheres don’t promote creativity and prevent children from enhancing their academic qualities. Therefore, school admins should make classrooms safer, better, and more liberal to diversity in today’s intolerant environment.

So, how can teachers build spaces where the student is understood and appreciated without discrimination or harassment? Experts suggest some strategies to make schools safer for learning. But before we delve into them, let’s determine what makes schools unsafe.

We can propose different reasons, such as bullying; both the victim and the executor may feel insecure. Some studies have even shown that one-fifth of students often feel insecure in classrooms. Interestingly, 22% of students have also reported being bullied by their schoolmates. Then we have instances of school shootings that contribute to these feelings and compel children to live in fear at school. We cannot overstate how a well-protected and comfortable educational environment can cause students to learn more efficiently. Therefore, educators must implement the below suggestions to enhance the safety of their classrooms.

Here’s how modern-day academic institutes can make schools safer now:

1. Enhance your learning

Leveraging distance learning programs is a viable way for teachers to bolster their education and collaborate with coworkers to make schools safer for learning. For this purpose, you can pursue online counseling graduate programs that are helpful in teaching safety planning.

You can choose “K-12 school counseling” as the area of your expertise in this digital course. Eventually, you’ll learn strategies to make students feel safer at school as well as more comfortable at expressing their thoughts.

2. Set some rules

Don’t forget to establish some “ground rules” in the classroom. And don’t just use the typical “I said so” approach with children. Explain the importance of these principles to them and how they bolster their educational environment. Tell them how you won’t tolerate hitting, bullying, or name-calling in any case.

There should be a zero-tolerance policy against classroom discrimination. Inform students that they must listen when one of their peers is talking.

3. Appreciate your students

Recognize your students’ achievements and appreciate their diligence properly. Show them how you admire their hard work in ways they can understand. This practice bolsters their confidence, thereby driving them to become more productive. Don’t forget that recognizing someone’s efforts publicly is a brilliant motivator.

So, don’t hesitate to appreciate them for non-academic achievements as well. When the teacher admires their student/s, it transforms the class into a safer learning zone.

If you are sending your kids to the best preschools, you will help them build a confident nature. Teachers, especially at the preschool level encourage even the slightest progress and development that help kids feel motivated. Appreciation works in instilling a sense of confidence in young children.

4. Offer them choices

Educators should empower students by transferring some control to them. So, you can offer them a choice in certain matters to bolster their creativity, self-esteem, and self-confidence. Allow them the chance to select their lessons in limited capacities. Teachers normally don’t admire not being in control, but allowing students the liberty to make choices can improve their engagement and make them responsible for their studies.

Hence, integrate some choices in the classroom.

5. Tolerate their mistakes

Why do some children stay quiet in classroom discussions? It’s because they’re afraid of being wrong and mocked for their mistakes. For this reason, encourage participation by celebrating those children who attempted to answer a question. Show them that being wrong still marks more respect than staying quiet.

Show them how giving an opinion-based makes them worthy of respect. Tolerate errors and don’t judge them for committing mistakes. Refrain from shaming them in front of their peers too.

6. Don’t judge anyone

Nobody likes being judged, and these judgments can stop students from participating in classroom discussions. No wonder 77% of the population hates public speaking today. But we suggest teachers create judgment-free educational atmospheres where children can express themselves without any fear of being mocked.

Children shouldn’t be afraid of being wrong or different as both are parts of a child’s learning experience. Also, make yourself supportive of those children who are introverted.

7. Promote group exercises

When students collaborate, they communicate effectively. That’s how they become friends, thereby more comfortable learning with classmates. Working alongside their peers, students can participate in creating an inclusive classroom community. Offer them choices by letting students choose their partners.

This strategy helps children bond and trust each other. Also, don’t forget to place them in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. Supervise these group activities for extra safety.

8. Create more routines

Children can navigate their activities easily if there’s a proper routine established in the classroom. What’s more, they don’t have to second-guess things. Without routine/structure, children often feel anxious and confused. Routine brings comfort as well as the illusion of security in our minds.

Without a proper routine, children remain frustrated and have problems paying attention in class. So, build enough regimes to offer the idea of familiarity.

9. Develop empathy skills

Why are children often mean to each other? It’s because they don’t realize the concept of empathy. When one student insults another student, explain to the perpetrator how their behavior influenced their peer/s. Show the bully how they’re hurting others with their unkind words/actions.

Teach the class some empathy and ask students to reflect on the consequences of what they’re doing/saying. You can make any classroom a more comfortable educational environment by teaching empathy.

10. Representation does matter

Diversify your classroom libraries to ensure that everyone feels represented. Include more books in the native dialects spoken by minority children in your school. Your classroom calendar must also contain all the nontraditional holidays/celebrations students observe. Likewise, ensure that your students’ experiences are represented in the curriculum.

That’s how they feel safer studying. Moreover, remain mindful of the language you’re speaking in the classroom. Keep it culturally sensitive at all times.

Conclusion

We’ve established that schools should make students feel secure to bolster academic progress. How can schools achieve this objective? So, we suggested educators set some rudiments that compel everyone to listen when a student is speaking. Also, discourage hitting, bullying, and name-calling in the classroom. A teacher must develop students’ empathy skills and empower them by offering choices. Organize group-based activities, create more routines in the school, and appreciate whenever a student shows some remarkable achievement. Moreover, instruct children to refrain from judging their peers and motivate them to stay tolerant. And lastly, allow students to answer a question fearlessly because being incorrect is better than silence.