CREATING A POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Positive learning environments support the developmental needs of students not only academically but also socially and personally. A positive learning environment is inclusive, respectful and caring of all its members.

Schools with a positive learning environment maximize the learning of every student and help young people to build a sense of community and become full participating citizens of society. These are schools where children feel comfortable with themselves, safe amongst their peers and are engaged and motivated to learn and they are happy to be in school. In positive learning environments teachers have high expectations that their students will achieve good results. They explain clearly the quality of work students are expected to produce and give them some choice of learning activities. Apart from this, positive learning environments offer a variety of learning activities to cater for the range of learner needs and students are given the opportunity to take responsibility of their own learning. As a result, they are more likely to benefit from the lessons, and thus more likely to be self‐motivated.

Additionally, these schools have standards for appropriate conduct which are developed collaboratively and apply to all persons and in all school‐related activities. In these environments, all the members of the community contribute to the environment within schools and they will be productive members of globalized world.