Creating and Fostering a Positive School Climate
In part 1 blog we looked at bullying statistics and the differences between bullying and harassment from Essential Bullying Prevention Strategies webinar I attended. In part 2 of this blog we will explore the three key areas that create and foster a positive school climate: Build Strong Relationships, Make Schoolwide Policies Visible, and Create a Confidential Reporting System. We’ll start with strong relationships.
Build Strong Relationships
The first key area has two parts: All Staff Daily Greet Students Across Campus and Prioritizing Building Relationships. I’ll start with greetings. The presenters shared that all staff welcome students. In RP 201 From ACEs to PACEs: Building Restorative Relationships we challenge teachers to greet students at the door every day. Elementary is easier because the teacher typically has the same students all day. But for secondary educators, they may teach five or six different class periods. We suggest they greet a different class period each day. Second Steps also recommends greeting students in the morning, between classes, and after school.
The difference between what we recommend and what they suggest is who is greeting students. To prioritize relationships, everyone, that means all staff, greet students. Administrators? Yes. Custodians? Yes. I love the concept. We didn’t have time for Q & A but I’m wondering how this works. Who is supervising students already on campus? Who is providing breakfast for the students? Second Step will be compiling our questions and sending out their answers.
Prioritize Relationship Building
The second part of building strong relationships is prioritizing building relationships. Over the past nine months, almost every webinar I’ve attended boils down to one answer for school challenges: building relationships. Traditionally academics are the school’s primary focus. Now many educators are seeing the benefits of prioritizing relationship building. The trainers and I include this in workshops. A few years ago, we get a lot of resistance. In the past two years we’ve observed that more educators are “buying in” to the importance of building relationships.
Make Schoolwide Policies Visible
The second key to creating a positive school environment is Making Schoolwide Polices Visible. This key has three parts. The first part is Defining the “School” Way. What students experience outside of school may not be acceptable in school. Learning the school’s expectations for student behavior is key to implementing policies.
The second part is Setting Norms in all classrooms is expected. The norms may vary from class to class which offers teachers autonomy in their classroom expectations.
The third part is Technology Policies and Guidelines. These are established so students are clear about what is allowed and what isn’t allowed.
Create a Confidential Reporting System
My favorite idea is the third key, Teach the Confidential Reporting System. The statistics in part one of this blog show that a large percentage of students do not tell an adult about a bullying incident. I’d like more information about how they don’t report.
Support Comes from Teaching Social-Emotional Skills
These three keys for creating and fostering a positive school climate are based on teaching students social-emotional skills: empathy, emotional management, and social problem solving. Additionally, engaging families in bullying prevention is a key concept.
While searching for additional information, I found a quote on relationships by an elementary principal I think you’ll appreciate as I do.
“Relationships are so key in solving bullying issues. Kids love to trust that the adult cares. That’s why it’s so important that every single adult in a building has the strategy and the knowledge to listen to a student and validate what they’re saying.”1 —Kim Bilanko, Principal
I hope you will consider the important role you play in our students’ lives and potentially preventing bullying.
Sources
- Benjamin Franklin Elementary, Kirkland, WA, no date. https://www.secondstep.org/bullying-prevention
- Image: bully-oppression [Pixabay.com]