One of the first things that teachers usually do when classes start is to establish the rules of coexistence in the classroom. And generally it is done at all stages – and if it is not done it is advisable to do it no matter how old the students are.
And I ask myself, does it really make sense to spend time, with how valuable time is, to explain and establish rules in the classroom? Aren’t all children supposed to know how to behave?
Immediately afterwards I say to myself: “OF COURSE THAT MAKES SENSE!” And the family and school are the first places in which social skills and competencies are developed and learned. And these are basic for adaptation throughout life in different contexts (neighboring community, park, public transportation, university, work…).
And on the other hand, transferring the school environment of children and adolescents to the work environment (which is my daily life currently) how different it is when there is a good environment to when it is not so good. And not only can we say it out loud because we can see it personally, but numerous scientific studies show that a good climate in the school and work environment significantly improves performance (of students and workers).
And we are going to derive this into more questions (gosh, scientific thinking can’t help me), what is the purpose of explicitly working on social competencies? And the answer is very simple: we encourage tolerance, critical exchanges based on respect, acceptance of differences, recognition of strengths and weaknesses, teamwork, personal improvement…
And don’t you think that all this is essential in a competitive world that is dying? In a demanding world where we must all be good at everything. In a world where we are all so focused on looking at our navels that we do not realize that we can complement the person next to us to make things better…
At the beginning of the course, I had the pleasure of participating in one of the first classes at a school. In a classroom of children between 5 and 7 years old. They were establishing classroom norms. But it was not the teacher who dictated the rules as something that the students had to comply with. It was the children themselves who established the rules for coexistence in the classroom. Rules that will accompany you throughout the entire course. And it seemed wonderful to me to involve them as responsible for coexistence, respect and a good environment.
And then I left there asking myself a question: how many teachers spend time throughout the course to revisit the importance of these norms, to remember that we all think differently and yet we all deserve respect? What if a program was made related to this from emotions and what happens to us as human beings in the presence of another human being?
