“Emotional safety in the classroom begins with the feeling that it is okay to ask questions, make mistakes, try, talk about difficulties, and not be afraid of being humiliated, ridiculed, criticized, or rejected,” says Agnė Gurskytė, a child and adolescent psychologist at the Neuromeda Mental Health Center.
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When tension or fear prevails in the classroom, a student thinks more about not embarrassing themselves or not becoming the center of attention than about the task. Therefore, emotional safety is important for all children, not just the more sensitive ones – after all, learning itself means not knowing, trying, and making mistakes.
It is no less important for the teacher.
“Emotional safety in the classroom is a mutual thing: students need a safe, calm adult, and the teacher needs support and conditions to be such an adult,” emphasizes A. Gurskytė.
Why children start to become silent
Students often feel unsafe not because learning is difficult, but because learning is associated with shame or humiliation. Sometimes a few mocking comments, teacher’s irony, class laughter after a wrong answer, or constant comparison with others are enough. Then the child quickly learns a simple rule – it is better to be silent than to risk embarrassment.
Uncertainty is also increased by unpredictability. If the same behavior one day receives a reprimand, the next day no reaction, and the third day a strict response, the student begins to constantly guess what to expect.
Relationships among peers are also important – bullying, rejection, competition, formation of groups. In adolescence, others’ evaluation becomes especially significant, so even a small humiliation can be experienced very strongly.
“A child with anxiety, attention, learning, speech, emotion regulation, or neurodiversity traits may feel unsafe in the classroom not because they do not want to learn, but because the environment causes them more tension than others. If their difficulties are understood as laziness, rudeness, or intentional disruption, the insecurity increases even more,” explains the psychologist.
Silence does not necessarily mean discipline
Emotional insecurity does not always manifest as conflicts or noise. Sometimes the classroom appears calm externally, but tension prevails.
“If students participate only when forced, if answers are very brief, if there are no spontaneous questions, it does not necessarily mean good discipline. A safe classroom is not one where everyone is silent – a safe classroom is one where you can speak without fear of being humiliated,” says A. Gurskytė.
A safe classroom is not one where everyone is silent – a safe classroom is one where you can speak without fear of being humiliated.
Insecurity can also be revealed by eye-rolling, laughter at mistakes, mockery, dividing students into “strong” and “weak,” avoiding reading aloud or going to the board. Other students say “I don’t know” in advance, even though they haven’t tried to answer.
Much responsibility, little support for the teacher
A modern teacher has to handle much more than just the lesson content. They are expected to manage classroom behavior, respond to emotional situations, adapt to different children’s needs, meet parents’ expectations, and at the same time achieve good results.
When demands are many and help is lacking, insecurity and emotional fatigue arise.
“The teacher’s work requires a lot of emotional strength. If the teacher does not have the opportunity to rest, consult, or receive support, irritability, a desire to control the situation more strictly, or emotional withdrawal from students may develop over time,” notes the psychologist.
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Teacher insecurity can manifest not only as anger. Sometimes it is an excessive desire to control, irony, defensiveness, or a need to constantly prove authority. Students quickly sense this.
“If a teacher reacts very quickly to wrong answers, interrupts a student, comments mockingly, or shows disappointment, the class learns that mistakes are dangerous. Then students start to protect themselves rather than learn,” says A. Gurskytė.
If a teacher reacts very quickly to wrong answers, interrupts a student, comments mockingly, or shows disappointment, the class learns that mistakes are dangerous.
Some children respond to such an atmosphere with provocations and conflicts, others withdraw and become unnoticed.
Parents’ messages transfer to the classroom
A child’s sense of safety is greatly influenced by what they hear at home about grades, mistakes, teachers, and failures. If parents care only about results, the child may start to fear mistakes.
The psychologist suggests instead of pressure, asking: “What was the hardest for you?”, “What would help make it easier?”, “How can we solve this together?”
It is also important how parents talk about the teacher.
“If a child constantly hears that the teacher is ‘unfair,’ ‘doesn’t understand anything,’ or ‘doesn’t know how to work,’ their trust in adults at school may weaken. Of course, there are situations when parents need to defend the child, but it is important to do so constructively,” emphasizes A. Gurskytė.
How to restore safety
According to the psychologist, first it is necessary to acknowledge that safety in the classroom has been lost. Then it is important to restore clear, respectful, and consistent rules so that students know what is acceptable and how bullying or mockery will be addressed.
The next step is to rebuild relationships with students. Individual conversations, class discussions, joint agreements, and simply showing that students’ experiences are seen can help with this.
It is equally important to change the attitude toward mistakes – they should be understood as part of learning, not a reason for humiliation.
And finally, the teacher should not be left alone.
“If safety in the classroom is lost due to bullying, long-term conflict, aggressive behavior, or teacher burnout, the teacher’s efforts alone may not be enough. In such cases, the involvement of the class leader, psychologist, social pedagogue, administration, and parents is important,” emphasizes the Neuromeda specialist.
According to A. Gurskytė, a safe classroom is not one where everyone is always comfortable and there are no conflicts.
“Emotional safety begins with the feeling that I will be treated with respect here, even if I make a mistake, don’t understand, get angry, or fail. It is precisely this foundation that allows both students to learn and teachers to teach,” says the psychologist.
