Supportive classroom environments: moving beyond safe spaces

Abstract

"The concept of "safe space" has become popular in colleges and universities that want to ensure inclusion. Simply put, the idea is that the teacher publicly declares that their classroom is safe from exclusion, that it is a community where the members do not judge or exclude one another. In theory, this offers some protection to students from marginalized groups, which helps them feel more at ease. Safe spaces are also said to be advantageous for everyone because they enable open discussions. The public became more aware of the concept in the 2010s as universities grap pled with the concept more and more publicly. We started hearing about "trigger warnings" and "micro-aggressions." New York Times journalist Judith Shulevitz warned in 2015 that safe spaces were spreading beyond their original scope, writing, "once you designate some spaces as safe, you imply that the rest are unsafe. It follows that they should be made safer." Following this logic, the safe space can then become a slippery slope for teach ers. If students and school administrators buy into the idea that teachers can make a classroom feel safe that easily, then who is accountable if a student feels unsafe there? Of course, contemporary peda gogical texts are often more nuanced, discussing "classroom climate" rather than "student safety." In this article, we first study the notion of safe space through the lens of pedagogical literature and recent events; then, we describe a model for an alternative practice that can help teachers foster a positive and inclusive classroom environment."-- (AQPC)