3 minute read
Comfort zones
The importance of feeling emotionally safe at school
By Michaela Pointon
Feeling safe in a classroom environment, as both Kaiako (teacher) and Tamariki (children), ensures a positive and stable foundation for active learning at school.
Managing behaviour in the classroom creates cultural dynamic, as well as setting clear expectations for students.
Expert in Educational Psychology and Neurosequential Therapeutics practitioner, Kathryn Berkett, says forming relationships where students feel respected and relaxed in your classroom environment will help provide a foundation for students to be actively engaged at school. Kathryn is committed to helping teachers and parents to work better with their students, youth and colleagues. Her company, Engage Training, delivers the latest neuroscience information to educators.
Engage Training provides strategies to teachers around having ‘more control and less impulse’ in the classroom. She says one of the first steps to creating a safe feeling classroom environment is managing stress for both students and teachers.
Managing stress in the classroom is about understanding each individual student’s need to feel safe. Kathryn runs professional development sessions about this subject, and has many online resources developed to complement the in-person training. “If we can create these values in our classrooms, schools, communities, homes, then we can create a general sense of safety. “From a neurological lens, we cannot activate the ‘thinking’ parts of our brain unless we have a sense of safety and belonging. “The difficult situation in a classroom is we all have different ways of feeling safe. So, for some Tamariki it is quiet
Educational Psychologist and Neurosequential Therapeutics practitioner, Kathryn Berkett.
and ordered, and for others, ‘safe’ could be flexible, random and noisy.” One of the most important aspects of being able to engage in academic learning is to feel secure in your environment. “When we feel unsafe, we can’t engage in learning. The first priority in a classroom is creating safety, which in itself is a way towards managing behaviour. “Many teachers do this naturally, but some of our environments make it difficult for our students to feel truly safe.” In these cases, teachers need to be able to be flexible and adaptable. “To do this in a biologically respectful way, they need to understand what trauma is, and how it can impact the brain and the body.” Personal trauma often affects students’ engagement with school. Depending on the severity of the individual situation, trauma can increase mistrust in an environment.
“Experiencing trauma can mean the brains of our Tamariki and Rangatahi may be concentrating on survival, putting more cognitive energy into scanning for danger. “The body stays in a physical state of activation, ready to attack or escape.” She says students’ energy in these situations is used towards the body for survival. This means for some students’ energy isn’t going to the brain, which is required to engage in lessons. Kathryn suggests schools can sometimes concentrate too much on learning how to implement curriculum subjects, and forget to spend enough time developing understanding the need people have for connection, safety and predictability. Of course, the curriculum is important and should be given the time and attention it deserves however, she advocates for teachers educating themselves about personal needs their students have.
“If we understood this better, we could improve engagement hugely.” She further suggests it isn’t possible for a teacher to establish safety in their classroom, or be intuitive to the needs of their students, if they themselves are not feeling safe.
Engage Training notes there are four things required for the sense of safety:
• Feeling seen - being acknowledged, recognised and validated • Having a sense of belonging to those around us - the sense of sameness, connection, familiarity is important • Knowing what is happening - having a sense of what is coming next is important for establishing safety • Mana - the feeling you are contributing, you are valued and have agency. This is an important part of feeling safe.
“Creating a workspace which is safe and supportive of our Kaiako has to happen if we want the best outcome for students.”
If you want to find out more from Engage Training in regards to professional development at your school, make sure to reach out to Kathryn or the team. There are multiple online resources ready to read to upskill in these areas. Kathryn is exceptionally knowledgeable and approachable, and will be able to answer any questions you may have as a teacher or principal. Find out more at
