Safety is fundamental

In the first paper from this research we argued that the lack of a discourse about safety limited what instructors could take on, given organizations that didn't recognize the need for safety for instructors and students alike. We suggested that the lack of a discourse about safety leaves teachers responsible to cope with everything that happens in the classroom. We explored an example of a teacher stretching to try to contain a loud, angry student so that everyone could learn. We speculated what learning organizations would look like if safe, relaxed settings for learning were a priority.

When we took this paper back to instructors I was surprised to learn that Kate Nonesuch didn't think there was an absence. She was regularly able to make use of a discourse around safety in her class. She described one way she uses to draw attention to issues for everyone in her class and create a climate that will be safer for everyone to learn.

We have one computer that has the internet. I have made it very clear that we don't allow porn, but they do go onto some pretty raunchy chat lines. The computer that has the internet is the one at the teacher's desk because it's the fastest computer. I don't sit at that desk anytime during the day, but I often have to get into the drawer or get my bag, so I often have a reason for walking behind the guy who's on the internet. One day in class I said that I felt unsafe when I noticed on the screen that people were talking about what kind of sexual things they were going to do to women, that I felt unsafe when the guy came off the screen and walked over to ask for help doing math, that it made me uncomfortable knowing that he had just finished talking about sex and a particular kind of sex. So, I wanted to know if other people felt unsafe and what kind of agreement we could make. People went around and agreed that this wasn't conducive to safety. So I said something about how easy it is to find yourself in sleazy places by accident, on line, but now that you know that people feel unsafe when you're there, you have a responsibility to get out for the safety of the group... I keep checking and I haven't come across it since then. This has since become centre policy. (Interview, Duncan, British Columbia, June 2000)