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Emotional safety means seeing a smile on my teacher's face the first day of school instead of a list of rules that is taller than my arm is long. It means being able to use the word “Neanderthal” instead of “caveman” and not be made fun of because my vocabulary is too big. It means being able to go through the lunch line without fear of somebody grabbing for my money or my cupcake. It means having a teacher who hands back papers privately instead of reading the grades out loud as I pick up my test. Emotional safety is unconditional acceptance of me. Emotional safety, first and foremost, allows me to wear my natural face instead of a fake one . . .

James Delisle, Professor, Education Foundations

Emotional safety means being able to act, think and feel without fear. It means being able to try activities I'm not good at, express my ideas without censoring them, display my feelings and have them respected, question my teachers without fear of punishment. It means being able to take risks and expose what I don't know. It means being valued for who I am instead of how well I perform. It means that the teacher is interested in me, in my ideas and experiences . . .

Debra Sugar, school social worker

A 1992 district-wide survey of over sixty-five thousand students in Houston showed that 48 percent either “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” with the following statement: “The school is a safe place.” Another 12 percent did not know. These are troubling statistics, and even without knowing the specifics of what the surveyors or students meant by the word “safe,” we have to wonder about the climate, not to mention the amount of learning going on in an environment in which a sense of safety is not a given for more than half of the student population. Yet what do these numbers really tell us?

The emotional climate in a school is the complex product of a huge number of factors. How a school feels on any given day can be influenced by, among other things, the condition and design of the physical structure itself, the community in which the school exists, the mental health of the adults in the building, the functionality of the families whose children attend, the political and economic climate of the area (and the world), the calendar, the weather and, perhaps, the position of the planets as well. Local events can have big impact: A community crisis, a mean-spirited editorial or even a winning football season can add a layer of energy to a school environment that hits you the second you walk in the door. Add to that the normal social hierarchies, power dynamics, agendas and unresolved personal issues that are present any time you have a group of people living or working together, and you've got a pretty volatile mix of factors, all of which have an impact on how people work, learn and interact in this environment.

In order for schools to be safe-and to feel safe to all concerned-a number of things have to happen, and, for the most part, they have to happen together. It's much like a recipe that requires a balance of certain ingredients, procedures, techniques and sanitary considerations, none of which can be ignored or left out without affecting the final product's appearance, taste or nutritional potential. The number of factors in this instance can be more than a bit overwhelming, to be sure, but if this book does nothing else, I want it to shine some light on just how much this issue entails by addressing as many of these factors as possible.

Author-educator Rita Mercier defines a safe school as one that “creates an environment for learning that allows all students, regardless of mental ability, language, culture, race, appearance, physical differences, economic status, emotional, social or physical challenges, learning styles, temperament, gender or any other diversity, to achieve their maximum potential-academically, personally and socially.” Or consider the definition by elementary counselor, Christina Mattise, created for her developmental guidance program in which emotional safety means, “I have the right to be myself and to have the freedom to learn, work and play without having my heart, my head or my body hurt.”

Both of these definitions say a lot more than it might seem at first glance, and encompass a large number of safety factors. Let's go a little deeper now, and look at what these specific factors include. For the purposes of this book, I use the term “emotional safety” to refer to a classroom or school environment in which students can experience all of the following:

• a sense of belonging, of being welcomed and valued; being treated with respect and dignity; acceptance

• the freedom to not be good at a particular skill, make mistakes, forget, or need additional practice and still be treated respectfully and with acceptance

• encouragement and success; recognition; instruction, guidance and resources according to need (developmental, cognitive, affective, modality) and regardless of need

• having one's own unique talents, skills and qualities valued, recognized and acknowledged

• understanding and clarity (about requirements and expectations); predictability (consistency of follow-through); freedom from arbitrary, indiscriminate and unexpected punishment and reactivity

• the freedom from harassment, intimidation (including labeling, name-calling, ridicule, teasing, criticism or contempt) and threat of physical harm from adults or peers

• the freedom to make choices and influence one's own learning, pursue personal interests and control various factors in the process of learning (such as content, presentation, media, location; social context; direction; specific assignments or approaches) based on personal needs and preferences

• the freedom from prejudice, judgment and discrimination based on physical characteristics and general appearance; religious, racial or cultural background; sexual orientation

• the freedom from prejudice, judgment and discrimination based on academic, athletic, creative or social capabilities; modality or learning-style preferences, temperament, hemispheric dominance or similar profiles

• the freedom to have (and express) one's own feelings and opinions without fear of recrimination

Clearly, “creating safe schools involves much more than preventing crimes on campus,” as Mercier points out. In the absence of the full complement of the above safety factors, two important “saving graces” exist. One is having some place to connect-that is, having a person or a group who values and respects you, having some in-school relationship in which you can truly be yourself, or, as survey respondent Dee Brumley suggests, “having someone or a lot of someones there to support you when you fall or just need a shoulder to cry on.”

The second is having some place to succeed. Many of the individuals who shared their experiences with me said that they created a sense of safety in school simply by doing well there. Others claimed that they never would have made it through school if they hadn't had one class or subject area-often music, art, theater or gym-that offered them a refuge from difficulties in other classes, mistreatment or rejection by their peers, or a miserable home life. Certainly other valuable support influences exist, in and out of the educational environment, and differences in personality and temperament will make some children far less vulnerable than others to unsafe conditions and interactions. But sadly, many children go through years of school without even these most minimal of benefits.

© 2001 Health Communications, Inc.

About the Author

Jane Bluestein, Ph.D. is an expert in the field of parenting with more than 20 years professional experience. A dynamic and entertaining speaker, she presents engaging and accessible training programs to groups around the globe. Dr. Bluestein currently heads Instructional Support Services, Inc. a consulting and resource firm that provides staff development and parent training programs worldwide.