Session Information
08 SES 05, Discourses of Evidence and Evaluation within Health Education and Health Promotion
Paper Session
Contribution
This study sets out to try and understand the climate in schools as it is seen by pupils in the first years of primary education. A multi-factorial socio-environmental approach is used, examining the question in the perspective of their sense of wellbeing, the quality of the interpersonal relationships between pupils, teachers and other grown-ups in the light of a specific context.
Moos (1979, 1987), a precursor in this field, considers that the social climate is the most significant component of the socio-educational environment, in that it has a mediating function for the other factors. This point of view, which is based on the complexity of different milieu, and the connection between individual and social dimensions in explaining behaviour, suggests that the effect of the environment is mediated by the individual’s perception and assessment, and by the effort he/she is prepared to make to adapt to this environment. The social climate is a descriptive, evaluative, and composite notion, corresponding to the perceptions of people belonging to a given environment (class, school, town and district). These perceptions are fashioned by a series of characteristics which vary from one context to another, and the way these combine makes it possible to measure the climate as a shared subjective reality.
In spite of the diversity of theoretical referents and the research methodologies used, studies of the classrooms’ and schools’ social climates show that interpersonal relationships are a decisive component and greatly impact health and learning. A positive environment favouring good relationships reinforces children’s well-being, academic self-esteem, friendships and academic achievement, whereas if there are conflicts in the environment, there is a negative impact on the sense of safety, self-esteem, learning, and academic achievement (Samdal et al., 1998, Dorman, 2002, Bennacer 2008). On the other hand, the weight of socio-economic variables has been broadly demonstrated (Debarbieux, 2006).
As for the determinants of the school climate, the studies that have been carried out underline how different they are. (Samdal et al., 1998) Some of them are linked to school staff’s individual and collective practices.
The necessary contribution of teacher education, especially for learning to work together in schools, with parents and also the community at large, has been insisted on (Royer, 2001). A number of different approaches have been devised, and several of these have been studied and evaluated. This is the case with initial teacher education and CPD courses based on a ‘health-promotion’ approach, which takes into account different dimensions of school life which have proved to be effective in promoting wellbeing at school, namely learning, school policy, the environment, and partnerships. (Jané-Llopis et al., 2005).
The originality of this study is that it deals especially with particularly young children (6-8 year-olds), as their perceptions of the school climate have not yet been understood and explored sufficiently. Therefore, bibliographical data showing the complexity of determinants of perception of the school climate and a broad palette (range) of variables (related to the pupil, the class and the school) will be included in the analysis.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bennacer, H. (2008). Le climat social de la classe à l’école élémentaire : élaboration et validation de la version abrégée d’une échelle. In J. M. Hoc & Y. Corson (Éds.), Actes du Congrès 2007 de la Société Française de Psychologie (pp. 131-139). Nantes : Université de Nantes. http://www.sfpsy.org/IMG/pdf/actes-SFP2007.pdf Bronfenbrenner, U. « The ecology & cognitive development: research models and fugitive findings », dans Scientific environments, sous la direction de R.H. Woznick et K. Fisher, Hillsdale (NH), Erlbaum, 1993, p. 3-44. Debarbieux, E. (1996). La violence en milieu scolaire : Etat des lieux. Issy-les-Moulineaux : ESF. Debarbieux, E. (2001). La violence en milieu scolaire. Dix approches en Europe. Issy-les-Moulineaux : ESF. Dorman, J. (2002). Classroom environment research: Progress and possibilities. Queensland Journal of Educational Research, 18(2), 112-140. http://www.iier.org.au/qjer/qjer18/dorman.html Jané-Llopis, E., Barry, M. M., Hosman C., & Patel V. (2005). Mental health promotion works: a review. Promotion and Education, Supplement 2. Moos, R.H. (1979). Evaluating educational environments. San Francisco : Jossey Bass. Moos, R. H. (1987). The social climate scales: A user's guide. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, California. Royer, E. (2001). Violence à l’école et politiques de formation des enseignants in Violence à l’école et politiques publiques, Debarbieux et Blaya (eds). ESF : Paris. Samdal, O., Nutbeam, D., Wold, B. & Kannas, L. (1998). Achieving health and educational goals through schools—a study of the importance of the school climate and the students' satisfaction with school. Health Education Research, Theory & Practice, 13, 3, 383-397. Simar, C., & Jourdan, D. (2009). French primary school teachers and health promotion: factors influencing health promoting practices. Paper presented at the Third European conference on health promoting school “Better schools through health”, 15 - 17 June, Vilnius, Lituania.
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