Creating the Climate & Culture
This is what it feels like in the setting and how we enhance this.
Creating the Climate
Positive, trusting relationships built on professional love are central when creating an inclusive, warm, caring and calm learning environment conducive to learning. Children thrive when their physical and emotional needs are met.
Realising the Ambition (Education Scotland, 2020) describes the role of Early Level practitioners who must be:
- “Patient, calm, consistent and understanding… not annoyed or angry.” (p. 26)
- Understanding children’s emotional states and being aware of ways to help them regulate their behaviour and emotions.
- Flexible in their routines.
- Supportive, helping children understand and develop ways of being kind, calm, caring and independent.
- Are aware of and create various spaces that support and challenge as required, e.g. “I need spaces where I can relax, feel safe, happy, content and cosy and which give a sense of care and wellbeing. These spaces can be accessed independently by me when I feel the need to regulate myself. I need to experience stimulating and challenging play spaces outdoors and in. Daily outdoor experiences throughout the year helped develop my sense of wellbeing and learn about my wider world. I continue to need both open spaces to move freely and small spaces to feel calm, contained and cosy.” (p. 27)
Creating the culture
The culture directly links to the setting’s beliefs and values and underpins direction for future growth. A positive school culture promotes the health and wellbeing of children. It must be co-created and agreed upon with all stakeholders, e.g. families, practitioners, children, and reflect the cultural context of the setting and the local community.
At Early Level, practitioners must:
- Ensure that it is a safe, supportive, inclusive, welcoming and challenging environment where children can achieve and thrive.
- Consider the role of the setting’s culture when creating the vision, values and aims and the curriculum rationale.
- Ensure that all cultural identities of the children and families are valued, supported and visible throughout the provision.
- Value and respect home languages encouraging their use within the setting.
- Develop relationships so that the children and families have a sense of ‘belonging’ within the setting.
- Ensure that all children get the right kind of support to ensure that they can flourish.
As stated in Scottish Borders Council’s Learning, Teaching & Assessment Framework, this is what is needed to create the climate for teaching:
- “Positive, respectful relationships are essential
- A positive ethos based on nurture principles
- A positive learning mind-set
- Praise effort, not ability
- Promote thinking hard
- Embrace mistakes as an essential part of learning” (p. 12).
and the culture for teaching:
- “Learning Environments are well organised
- Learning Environments are a planned and purposeful tool for learning
- Shared understanding of purposeful routines which promote independence
- Metacognition strategies are taught explicitly and made visible
- High quality questioning is embedded
- Home/school partnerships enhance learning” (p. 12).
