Creating and Maintaining a Positive School Culture and Climate

As a teacher, it is important for you to nurture your students to become the best version of themselves. Creating a conducive environment with a positive culture is instrumental to the proper development of our students. A positive environment would not only help your students learn but also help you as a teacher communicate and impact your students better. In this piece, we are going to discuss different methods that you could use to build a conducive environment for your students. It is important to create an enabling environment for your students because it affects them both in and out of school.

Steps to creating a positive culture

There are different steps that can be taken by the school and its teachers to create an enabling environment and a positive school climate. These steps listed can be incorporated gradually or together.

Become a role model

It has been proven that individuals, especially while they are younger, learn faster from actions than words. As a teacher, to better impart your students, it is important to model the behaviors you want them to imbibe. Leading by example creates a better environment for students to observe and imitate these actions. Showing your students through your everyday behavior that you are invested in them would create a positive school culture and environment. You need to put thought into your daily actions and how you interact with both staff and students. This is a deliberate way in which to impart good behaviors and skills into your students.

Share a vision

Creating a shared vision for both teachers and students would create the environment necessary to foster a positive culture in your school. From the onset, it is best to clearly outline the vision you want to achieve at the school. This helps both teachers and students to be on the same page. Create guidelines, rules and regulations and other such clearly defined paths that align with the school vision. Having a clear vision helps you with guiding your students and allows them to grow and develop in an environment of trust. When the vision of the school is clearly outlined and defined it helps your students understand why certain decisions are taken. The punishment for bad behavior should also be clearly stated so your students know the consequence of defaulting and behave accordingly.

Celebrate milestones

Your students are going to have achievements while they are at school. Celebrating and properly recognizing them for their achievements is important to creating a positive school culture and climate. Notwithstanding the size of the achievement, celebrating any milestones achieved would boost the confidence of your students and encourage them to do more. There are a lot of ways you as a teacher can properly recognize your students and give them the proper acknowledgment. Phone calls, certificates and trophies and pasting the achievement on a notice board are just some of the methods available. Approval and positive feedback are strong ways to build a connection with your students and foster a positive learning environment.

Engage your students

The school is a place to learn and we don’t just mean regular subjects. The school gives your students the skills the chance to pick up skills that would help them become well-rounded adults. Social skills, communication skills, and other such skills are all picked up in school. Meaningfully engaging students throughout each day would enable them to develop properly and under your supervision. Aiding your students in picking up these skills would create an enabling environment for them to grow, learn and thrive. Include activities that would aid them to build these skills and as such create an environment that is conducive and accepting. Effective Teacher-student relations will foster a positive school climate.

Conclusion

Good positive culture and environment are important to the development of your students. It is the job of the school and its teachers to work hand in hand to create this environment. The best students thrive in an environment that is accepting and supportive. This list is by no means exhaustive but the steps listed are quite effective in creating the enabling environment for your students. You should always remember that as a teacher you are a key player in the success of your students. We hope you have learned the strategies you need to better the culture at your school.

About Creating and Maintaining a Positive School Culture Program:

Lumos Learning has partnered with Ecred to offer a range of accredited professional skills development courses that are designed for teachers. Creating and maintaining a positive school culture is one of the many courses that educators can choose to earn 4 CEUs and PD credits. In the course, you will become familiar with research-based approaches to improve school culture and maintain a positive environment at your school.

Learn more about the course here
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