Feeling Safe at School: How New Technologies Can Help
By: National Center for Technology Innovation and Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) (2008)
Research on school climate and connectedness has found that in order to
Feeling Safe at School: How New Technologies Can Help
By: National Center for Technology Innovation and Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) (2008)
Research on school climate and connectedness has found that in order to create a positive learning environment for all students, it is important to assess and enhance social and emotional conditions for learning. Students must feel both physically and emotionally safe from harm. They must feel that the adults in their lives care about them and are there to support them. Students also have to be equipped with the social and emotional skills to deal with their behaviors and actions in nonviolent, mature, and reasoned ways. Finally, it is important that all students feel engaged and challenged in their learning environment, with high expectations set for all. Research is finding strong relationships between addressing social and emotional learning (SEL) and academic achievement (see the Further Reading section).
Social and emotional conditions are especially important for students with disabilities. For students with LD and related conditions, the social environment of school can be as much or more of a concern as academic achievement. Many successful adults with LD and ADHD have shared their traumatic school experiences of being lost, bullied and teased, and subjected to low expectations and inappropriate tracking (Reiff, Gerber, & Ginsberg, 1997; Rodis, Garrod, & Boscardin, 2001; Wren, 2000). These experiences of feeling physically and emotional unsafe can scar students' ability to achieve and their engagement with learning. This Info Brief provides some technology tools for families and educators to implement to address some of the common issues.
One important area of SEL, safety, includes whether students:
- feel physically and emotionally safe at school and on the way to and from;
- perceive that they are treated fairly and equitably by authorities and peers; and
- avoid risky behaviors by abiding by safety rules, avoiding substance abuse, maintaining respectful personal space, etc.
The best way to know how students feel< is to ask them. Doing so in a way that allows for an anonymous answer offers them the opportunity to be brutally honest. Consider using web-based survey platforms such as surveymonkey.com, zoomerang.com or other inexpensive web services. A multiple choice survey avoids the concerns over recognizable handwriting or inhibited writing due to poor spelling. Be sure that the survey is readable and comprehensible by all students, even those with reading disabilities. Offering the survey in alternate formats — such as a simple Word document that could be read by a screen reader — would address some of the access issues.
Addressing these issues of safety requires a team of dedicated school and community personnel. A single adult cannot change the school environment. Consider volunteering for or starting such a team or committee, either as a parent or as an educator. Publicizing the work of the committee, if not the results of a student survey, is the first step to making a public commitment to making all students feel safer at school.
There are many new technology tools that can be leveraged to help students feel safe. Ideas are shared below to jumpstart your thinking. But remember, any new technology students are expected to use need to be explicitly taught and practiced before it can be used independently — or it, too, will increase students' anxiety levels!
Key safety zones at school
In order to feel safe and not stressed, students need to be able to get around the campus and not feel lost; get around the buildings without incident (tripping, falling, bumping into jutting corners, etc.); feel safe in a crowd such as hallways and cafeterias; and feel safe in spaces away from direct adult supervision (bathrooms, playground, sidewalks, buses). Students with disabilities that impair their ability to read social situations accurately are especially vulnerable to being teased or bullied and they often do not know how to express these incidents to authorities. Consider trying some of the resources below to increase students' comfort level.
Technology makes maps more accessible and available in multiple formats. However, students need to practice with them. So, take the extra time to explore various options and give students the opportunity to select the option that works for them and to practice their wayfinding. Consider these resources:
- Create satellite maps (using google maps or mapques