Is "Safety" Dangerous? A Critical Examination of the Classroom as Safe Space

Abstract

The notion that the classroom can, indeed must, be a safe space to promote student engagement and enhance academic outcomes is pervasive in the teaching and learning literature. Despite the prevalence of this claim, there is a dearth of empirical evidence documenting the effectiveness of safe space classrooms in achieving these goals. The purpose of this essay is to provide a critical examination of the classroom as safe space. I begin by deconstructing the common meanings of safety as presented in the pedagogical literature and provide an overview of the existing research on student perceptions of safe space learning environments. I then problematize the metaphor of the classroom as safe space through an examination of 1) the impact of safety on student intellectual development 2) the impossibility of safety for students in marginalized and oppressed populations 3) the challenges to assessing student learning in safe environments and 4) the ambiguity inherent in defining safety for students. I conclude by arguing that both educators and students are better served by the development of an alternative discourse of classroom safety, one that is predicated on the notion of classroom civility.Dans la littérature sur l’enseignement et l’apprentissage, la notion selon laquelle la classe doit vraiment être un espace sécuritaire pour promouvoir la participation de l’étudiant et améliorer ses résultats scolaires est omniprésente. Malgré la prévalence de cette affirmation, il y a une pénurie de données probantes empiriques venant étayer l’efficacité des classes en tant qu’espace sécuritaire afin d’atteindre ces buts. L’objectif du présent essai est de procéder à un examen critique de la classe en tant qu’espace sécuritaire. Je commence par déconstruire la signification courante de la sécurité telle qu’elle est présentée dans la littérature sur la pédagogie et fournis un aperçu de la recherche existante sur les perceptions des étudiants relativement aux environnements d’apprentissage sécuritaires. Je considère ensuite la métaphore de la classe en tant qu’espace sécuritaire comme un problème et examine : 1) les répercussions de la sécurité sur le développement intellectuel des étudiants; 2) le caractère impossible de la sécurité pour les étudiants qui font partie des populations marginalisées et opprimées; 3) les difficultés liées à l’évaluation de l’apprentissage des étudiants dans des environnements sécuritaires; 4) l’ambiguïté inhérente à la définition de la sécurité des étudiants. Je conclus en expliquant que les éducateurs et les étudiants sont mieux servis par la création d’un autre type de discours sur la sécurité dans la classe, qui est basé sur la notion de civilité en classe

Muhammad, Education, and Finitude

“…Imagine a liberated classroom where a teacher-secure in her own maturing finitude-conveys experiences of personal frailty as a way of fostering awareness of the transience of human accomplishment. Not self-piteous exposés of regrets, but self-aware reflection on the phenomenon of being a limited ego in 18 For a critical examination of the concept of "safe space" in educational settings see Barrett (2010), who argues: "The commonplace, and uncritical, acceptance of safety as a bedrock of quality education is curious, given not only the lack of empirical data to support the effectiveness of the safe classroom in enhancing learning outcomes but also the absence of a precise definition of what exactly safety entails." an expansive universe.…”

Moral injury and the ethics of teaching tainted legacies

“…5 Various studies confirm students' need for neutral, nonjudgmental demeanors from professors. See, for example, Barrett (2010) and Latting (1990). Importantly, however, Holley and Steiner's (2005) study found that student traits are far more important than professor traits in creating a productive environment in class.…”

Safe Space: Towards a Reconceptualization

“…Since the 1960s there has been a prevalent belief in the United States that safety in the classroom for all students is not only possible, but also the “ethical obligation” of teachers and school administrators (Barrett :2; Ludlow :2). However, as hooks (:39) points out, even in the absence of explicit antagonism or discomfort, “many students, especially students of color, may not feel at all ‘safe’ in what appears to be a neutral setting”.…”

“…Because the phrase has been so widely adopted, “safe space” has arguably become an “overused but undertheorized metaphor” (Barrett :1). In this paper, we undertake precisely this project of retheorizing—or reconceptualizing—safe space.…”