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Behaviour and Expectations Psychological Safety

Psychological safety in the Drama classroom

Contents

What is psychological safety?

What does it look like?

Psychological safety in the Core Content Framework

How to nurture psychological safety in the Drama classroom

Psychological safety classroom checklist

What is psychological safety?

Psychological safety is a state in which people feel safe to make mistakes without the fear of being judged or ridiculed. It is an environment that fosters risk taking and creativity. Groups with high psychological safety are more engaged and inclusive, have a learning culture and collaborate well. There is a wealth of information on the importance of psychological safety in the workplace and the link to high performing teams (What is Psychological Safety? – Psychological Safety (psychsafety.co.uk)) but what does it look like and feel like for students in a Drama class and why is it important?

What does it look like?

Seasoned Drama teachers will know what it is like to teach a class with high psychological safety; students are enthusiastic, enjoy trying new things and are often highly creative in practical and devising work. In these classes, students are supportive of each other, regardless of whether they are friends outside of the classroom. They acknowledge that they have a shared interest and passion for the subject and encourage each other to step outside their comfort zone. For a teacher, these classes are a joy to teach and memories of moments from lessons or performances often stay with you for a long time.

Adversely, classes with low psychological safety are often much more difficult to teach. Behaviour might be a big factor, or low resilience or self esteem. It can take a while to build a culture of psychological safety with these classes, especially if behaviour is part of the problem, but it is worth the effort.

Psychological safety in the Core Content Framework

For trainee teachers and ECTs, nurturing psychological safety links to standards 1 and 7 in the Core Content Framework:

Standard 1: Set high expectations

Learn that…

1. Teachers have the ability to affect and improve the wellbeing, motivation and behaviour of their pupils.

2. Teachers are key role models, who can influence the attitudes, values and behaviours of their pupils.

3. Teacher expectations can affect pupil outcomes; setting goals that challenge and stretch pupils is essential.

4. Setting clear expectations can help communicate shared values that improve classroom and school culture.

5. A culture of mutual trust and respect supports effective relationships.

6. High-quality teaching has a long-term positive effect on pupils’ life chances, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Standard 7: Manage behaviour effectively

Learn that…

1. Establishing and reinforcing routines, including through positive reinforcement, can help create an effective learning environment.

2. A predictable and secure environment benefits all pupils, but is particularly valuable for pupils with special educational needs.

3. The ability to self-regulate one’s emotions affects pupils’ ability to learn, success in school and future lives.

4. Teachers can influence pupils’ resilience and beliefs about their ability to succeed, by ensuring all pupils have the opportunity to experience meaningful success.

5. Building effective relationships is easier when pupils believe that their feelings will be considered and understood.

6. Pupils are motivated by intrinsic factors (related to their identity and values) and extrinsic factors (related to reward).

How to nurture psychological safety in the Drama classroom

Four key areas of focus, to help build psychological safety with classes are; expectations, environment, teamwork and feedback.

Expectations

At the start of term, it is important to establish your classroom rules and expectations with every class. However, it is more important, especially to build trust between you and the students, to maintain your standards and be consistent with them. Students trust and respect teachers who follow up with students who do not comply with expectations. Revisit your expectations when you feel that students need a reminder.

As the teacher, practice active listening with students. If they want to speak to you, let them and ensure your body language shows you are listening. This builds respect and an open dialogue between the teacher and the student.

Admit your own vulnerabilities and acknowledge your own mistakes in the classroom. This a positive character trait and will, again, build trust and respect. Do not mistake this for self-deprecating comments – do not put yourself down in front of the students, but do own up to spelling mistakes on the white board or PowerPoint with humour! This acknowledgement from you, shows the students that it is ok to make mistakes and helps to develop their willingness to try new things without fear of failure.

Environment

Encourage a supportive environment in which it is ok to fail and which is inclusive of all students. This can start with the language that we use in instructions. “Today we are going to learn about…” has a more inclusive vibe than “Today you are going to…”. This shifts the perspective from the individual to the class. You are also including yourself in that statement and this shows the students that you are working along side them, helping to build mutual trust. It is important that your lesson content is also inclusive of all abilities and needs within your class and, as far as possible,  keep an open dialogue with these students to ensure they are accessing your lesson.

Teamwork

Teamwork is a vital skill for students to master and should be discussed with students in order for them to develop healthy collaboration with their peers. When giving instructions for a practical task, make sure that students know what teamwork looks like when it goes well. We teachers are well trained in showing students what the outcome should look like and giving criteria for this, but positive teamwork is what will get them there! It is a good idea to have teamwork criteria, displayed in the room which is quick and simple to refer to. Such as:

  • I give ideas and I listen respectfully, to others’ ideas
  • I am supportive to others by helping to develop the performance
  • I cooperate and stay focused on the task

It is useful to practice low-stakes collaboration skills. At the beginning of the year, after a long summer holiday, some students need easing back in to working with others. Give small tasks in small groups and maybe just spotlight a few performances. Give lots of praise for groups who have worked effectively and supported one another well. Consider rewarding this part of the lesson as much, if not more so, than final performances. This shows students how much value is placed on teamwork, which in turn, can build psychological safety in the classroom. As a lesson progresses, both group size and task challenge can increase. Monitor group work closely. If something isn’t working, find the reason and address if for the following lesson.

Feedback

Give and encourage students to offer feedback to their peers. If managed well, this can help to build psychological safety in a class. New classes will benefit from feedback from peers which focuses on what they have done well. Example questions: What drama skills did you see the group use? When did they use this? What part was the most effective and why? Questions that are linked to the success criteria are a good place to start! Any areas for improvement, at the start, is best received from the teacher and this allows you to model what constructive feedback looks and feels like. You can frame feedback positively using the following phrases: “If I were to give you five more minutes to rehearse, I would suggest you work on…” or “Another way you could have presented that moment could be…”. Give students time to self-reflect on how they are working in their group. This can be effective at a pause point during the rehearsal process or at the end by adapting the questions above to the group; “I you have five more minutes to rehearse, what would you change or improve?” or “What is another way you could have presented that moment?”

Psychological safety classroom checklist

  • Establish your classroom rules and expectations
  • Be consistent
  • Revisit your expectations
  • Practice active listening
  • Admit your own vulnerabilities and acknowledge your own mistakes
  • Encourage a supportive environment in which it is ok to fail
  • Use inclusive language “we” rather than “you”
  • Lesson content should be inclusive of all abilities and needs
  • Students should know what teamwork looks like when it goes well
  • Display teamwork criteria
  • Practice low-stakes collaboration skills
  • Give praise and reward groups who have worked effectively and supported one another well.
  • Give and encourage students to offer feedback
  • Model what constructive feedback looks and feels like
Categories
Transferable skills

Building resilience through drama

Resilience is the ability to recover from setbacks or failure, the ability to adapt to challenging situations and bouncing back stronger. The term resilience is also referred to as mental toughness which is linked more with stress, pressure and challenge.[i]

Young people need resilience to learn effectively and they often exhibit more resilience in some subjects than others. I have certainly noticed this in many of my own students over the years, as well as in my own children!

Resilience is skill that employers increasingly want to see in their employees and recently, when a school staffing body were asked which skill was the most important for students to have when they leave compulsory education, resilience was voted number one.

The following indicators (adapted from Positivepsychology.com) have helped me to see what resilience looks like in my classroom:

  • Learners make connections with others to build a social support network and can seek assistance from other people.
  • Learners are willing to overcome difficulties rather than avoiding problems.
  • Learners accept that change is a natural and unavoidable part of life.
  • Learners set goals with realistic expectations and accept their own strengths and weaknesses.
  • Learners take decisive action that help them face challenges and learn from mistakes.
  • Learners look for opportunities that promote self discovery.
  • Learners have cultivated a positive view of them self and their abilities. They think optimistically.

[i] Courtney Ackermann positivepsychology.com What is Resilience and Why is It Important to Bounce Back? (positivepsychology.com)

Resilience in the Drama classroom

The Drama classroom is a great place to nurture resilience. As Drama teachers and practitioners, we do this as a natural part of planning and delivering lessons and workshops. In a typical lesson, there may be a low stakes starter activity to check prior knowledge or a retrieval practice exercise. A small win at the start of the lesson gives learners a pinch of confidence and self esteem which will power them to the next activity. Group work usually follows and fosters collaboration and social support, which is a key indicator of resilience. It is here where we teachers, begin to see which of our learners perhaps have lower resilience or finding this peer interaction tough. We use these, often intuitive, observations to plan support in the following lesson. Increasingly, I am seeing students who are reluctant to perform in front of their peers and higher anxiety levels around exam performances and this needs addressing.

My first lesson of the new term

With many of my classes, from KS3 through to A level, my first lesson is usually a ‘getting to know you’ team building type lesson. This year, I am shifting the focus to building resilience, using activities which involve positive teamwork, adapting to change, helping each other and overcoming problems.

This first lesson will also allow me to gain an insight into the resilience level of the learners in my class and as a result, I can plan and adapt my future lessons to be more focused on building resilience, if needed.

My ‘8 activities to build resilience’ lesson is available to download, for free, at the end of post and I would welcome feedback if you use any or all of the activities included. I am personally most excited to use number 6 ‘Style switch up’ and number 7 ‘Who’s in my group?’ with my new GCSE and A level groups!

My next blog will lead on from resilience with a focus on the importance of psychological safety in the classroom and how to nurture a positive drama space. 

Thank you for reading my first blog post! I would welcome your feedback.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see covered or resources, please get in touch, I would love to hear from you!

DOWNLOAD 8 activities to build resilience