One of the important concepts that emerged during our study was how having a safe classroom climate contributes to student wellbeing. It is likely that a safe classroom climate means different things to different people; however, there seemed to be consensus among student focus group participants around two main ideas:
- A safe classroom climate is one where students will not feel judged for making a mistake or holding a different opinion from the professor or their classmates. Students described how certain classroom environments created a sense of psychological safety. For the students safety does not seem to imply that they will always be correct, rather safety seems to imply that students will not feel judged for making a mistake or holding a different opinion from the professor or their classmates. A number of students indicated that the purpose of university is to learn: “I think for me the expectation going to university is that we’re here to learn. So for me it’s not necessarily that they are supportive of your opinion or your way of doing things but that they are supportive of your learning. So they can correct you and you know like your grade doesn’t have to be high, that kind of stuff right. But then what they are trying to instil in you is the ability to learn and to bounce back. Right, cuz sometimes when I hear safe and supportive, I’m like ok safe and supportive is very, like it sounds very mollycoddles you know as you go into university you aren’t supposed to be mollycoddled.” (Arts student) For Arts students especially, it seems to be important that the instructor can create an environment which allows for multiple perspectives to be heard and understood. “I think it’s important that we become culturally aware of things but then I think it’s also important for classrooms to be a safe space for like any conflicting discussions … I see university as like at the end of it we all develop our voices and are able to allow different voices to be in the room” (Arts student).
- A safe classroom climate is one where students can participate in a way they are comfortable. Students generally appreciate interactive and engaging teaching practices, both because they are more enjoyable (and therefore intrinsically motivating), and because most students find them to be more effective for promoting student learning. When the instructor is able to foster a safe classroom environment, students seem to feel safer engaging in these interactive teaching practices. Some of the strategies that instructors use to engage students in the learning process seem to be ineffective or even counterproductive: “I’ve heard of kids with social anxiety who will like avoid classes where the profs call on people … it’s too stressful of a thing to do.” (Arts student)
“He [the prof] doesn’t really believe in participation marks because that really hits a student on whether they’re an outgoing person or whether they just don’t wanna speak up right and I really respected him for that because it allowed everyone to feel safe as well knowing that they’re not there’s not going to be pressure put on them in a negative or disrespectful way and the sense that he respects that as well and that he acknowledges and understands that even if you don’t speak up it doesn’t mean you don’t engaged it’s just it could just totally be your personality. And I think that made people want to participate a little bit because they felt more safe and they could like trust him or whatever” (Science student)
The concept of a safe classroom environment seems to be closely aligned with the instructor-student relationship and peer-relationships; a safe classroom climate promotes relationship building, however, establishing relationships also helps create a safe classroom climate. Further, a safe classroom climate seems to support student learning, in particular, by supporting student engagement and participation in interactive learning activities.
Teaching Strategies that Create a Safe Classroom environment
- Treating student input as valuable. By treating all student comments as worthy of consideration, instructors can create a space where student feel more comfortable participating. Students described the importance of NOT being judgemental or condescending.
- Establishing a relationship based on trust with the students
- Allowing students space to be wrong, and gently redirecting students as appropriate to correct errors in knowledge or reasoning.
- Ensuring that discussions allow space for different perspectives and opinions.
- Using inclusive language
- Taking breaks as necessary during challenging discussions
- Addressing safety and support early on in the term.
- Respecting student autonomy by not forcing students to attend class.
- NOT having participation marks or attendance marks
- Allowing students to participate in multiple ways, if participation marks are deemed necessary
- Asking for volunteers, instead of randomly picking students to participate
- Acknowledging that university can be scary and intimidating to first year students
- Offering trigger warnings when necessary
What is your idea of a “safe” classroom? We’d love to hear what you think! Please share your thoughts with us below in the Comments section and start a dialogue about safe classroom and its impact on student wellbeing!