How to Create a Safe Learning Environment

– Integrating Inclusivity Into Language and Communication Courses

By EDIE FURNISS, MINNA LYYTINEN photos AMA AURA, YGOR MORAIS JAQUES

In November 2022, the University of Helsinki Language Centre organized an event titled Language Belongs to Everyone – Inclusive Language Use as part of a threeevent series on student wellbeing in language and communication studies. Hisayo Katsui, Associate Professor in Disability Studies at the University of Helsinki, and Deborah Darling, language and communications teacher and specialist in multilingual pedagogies, both delivered presentations. The event ended with a panel discussion on how to promote wellbeing in the Language Centre’s language and communication studies. The teachers and students that attended the panel discussed, among other issues, how teachers can actively create a safe learning environment. Since the panel discussion received positive feedback, we felt that many of the ideas brought forward would be relevant to a wider audience.

How to Create Inclusivity on a Systemic Level

Creating safer space begins before the course starts or before the teacher meets any students. The most important tool for institutions to dismantle systemic discrimination might be the equality plan that has been made together with teachers and students. Creating a plan is a start for a continuous process and the plan needs to be available for both staff members and students.

In addition, teachers can learn and deepen their understanding on discrimination and minority stress, and how they affect learning and student wellbeing. Especially white, cisgender and able-bodied teachers can benefit from studying topics of antiracism, diversity of gender and sexual orientation, disabilities and accessibility. If your workplace does not offer trainings or courses on these topics, you can learn more by following NGOs and organizations like CEREN, Anti-Racist Forum, Autismiliitto, Fem-R, Invalidiliitto, Seta, Ombudsman of Equality, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Culture and Education and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on their channels (e.g., social media profiles and e-newsletters).

How to Integrate Inclusivity in Your Teaching

As teachers, we must remember the influence we have and the opportunity we have to act as role models for our students. Talking openly and explicitly about inclusivity is very noticeable to students, especially those who belong to traditionally marginalized groups. By being intentional about the language we use and the practices we model, students who may feel excluded in other contexts will see that we have established a safe space, and that we, the teachers, are supporting them. This is not only important for us on a personal level, since we believe strongly in making all students feel welcome and like they can be themselves; it is also important to model the type of behavior that is becoming more encouraged and expected in the workplace as well.

Remember that as an outsider, your role is to learn and be respectful.

While modeling inclusive language and practices can be easily built in to your teaching, there may not be time to cover the topic of inclusivity completely. Since language and culture change rapidly, and since no marginalized group is monolithic (and therefore individuals within any group may not necessarily agree on preferred language), it’s nearly impossible to keep up with the “right” thing to say. Instead, we as teachers should demonstrate to our students how to develop an inclusive attitude and an interest in the concerns of people dissimilar from us: Listen and learn from all sorts of people by exposing yourself to different voices. This can be done through reading newspaper editorials, academic articles, blogs and social media posts, novels and poetry, and listening or watching podcasts, YouTube videos, TV and movies. Cultivate interest in hearing other people’s stories, what language they use and why they prefer it. Remember that as an outsider, your role is to learn and be respectful.

Here are several ideas for integrating inclusivity into your own classroom. All of these ideas are inspired by things we have seen other teachers do, or practices we have encountered in our own professional development and personal experience.

Diversify Your Course Materials and Make Them Accessible

Diverse and accessible course materials improve the experience for all students, not just students from minority groups and those with particular learning difficulties or impairments. Once you learn how to do it, and get into the habit, it comes naturally. If you use videos, pick ones that have subtitles and add subtitles to the videos you make.

Include a diversity of topics and viewpoints in course materials. For example, when looking for reading materials, you can search for texts relevant to the lesson topic but on minority issues and from a minority perspective (e.g., search academic databases for keywords like Sámi, fatphobia, disability, etc.). Make sure to include materials written by people from minority groups like women and people of color. Although this may seem subtle, representation is important, both to those of us who are underrepresented in the culture and in educational materials, since it is validating and encouraging to see ourselves reflected, as well as to those who are not marginalized because it normalizes the inclusion of a more diverse range of perspectives in the world.

Pre-course Message and Survey

Even before your course begins, you can start creating a safer space by giving students prompts in a pre-course message and survey that they can respond to if they choose. Here’s a possible model for the prompt:

Is there anything else you’d like to share with the teacher? For example, how you’d like to be addressed (name, pronouns), how your name is pronounced, learning difficulties you’d like me to know about, etc.? Would you like me to contact you to talk more about your response?

Then, if the student wants to be contacted, you can follow up with them via email, or in an in-person or online meeting. In our experience, several students in every group share information about their anxiety, dyslexia, or that they are on the autism spectrum, or information about their pronouns or gender identity. To encourage sharing pronouns, you can display yours in Zoom or share yours at the beginning of a course.

If teaching is in a physical space on campus, you might want to add information related to accessibility of the classroom. You can add information, for instance, on how to get into the classroom with a wheelchair or other device, whether there are gender-neutral toilets anywhere near the classroom, or whether the room has an induction loop for hearing aids. Even if the lesson is online, you can add accessibility information about the materials, as well as stating that students have the right to reasonable accommodations during the course.

Safer Space Policy and Contact Person in Case of Harassment

In the beginning of the course you can build a safer space together with students either by presenting the safer space policy or creating the policy together. These rules for the course can be anything that supports creating a safe learning environment for all. Additionally, your institution likely has a model for how to address discrimination and harassment, or at least the contact details for the person responsible for addressing cases of harassment.

Honor Students’ Identities

We all have many different identities that contribute to who we are, and as teachers it is important to honor our students’ identities. This can be something as simple as making sure that you are pronouncing everyone’s name correctly; emphasize on the first day of class that you want students to correct you if you make a mistake. When in doubt, ask the student if you are pronouncing it correctly – most students will feel too shy to correct you otherwise. If their name is particularly difficult for you to pronounce, write a note in your class roster to remind you – spell it phonetically, or write down a word it rhymes with. Another way to honor students’ identities is to avoid cornering them into discussing topics that are uncomfortable or inapplicable. That means that you should avoid (or modify) activities that rely on normative stereotypes. This applies particularly to gendered stereotypes, usually related to romance. So, instead of asking students to write about “my ideal husband/wife” in order to practice adjectives, change the prompt to include “my ideal friend/pet/etc.”. You don’t want to create a situation where a student feels like they either have to come out (as queer, as asexual, etc.) or be dishonest.

Remember as well that you shouldn’t assume a particular student’s gender, nationality, or native language. While a question like “Where are you from?” seems innocent, students who do not “look” like a member of the dominant culture, or do not have a typically Finnish name, are frequently subjected to this type of “othering” question/assumption. This repeated experience can serve to continually remind a person that they do not belong to the mainstream culture or society. So, when getting to know students, ask the same generic questions you would ask of any student: Did you grow up in Helsinki or did you move here for university? What is your mother tongue / first language? (Instead of, for example: “When did you move to Finland? Do you speak Finnish? How did you learn to speak Finnish so well?”)

Although the most influential work on wellbeing and nondiscrimination in universities is done on a institutional and systemic level (e.g., equality planning or legislation on reasonable accommodations), language and communication teachers have an important role to play in changing the culture on a smaller scale.

Authors: Edie Furniss and Minna Lyytinen

Edie Furniss has a PhD in applied linguistics and works as an instructor of English in the University of Helsinki Language Centre.

Minna Lyytinen has a MA in communication and works as a communication teacher in Finnish (viestintä ja vuorovaikutus) in the University of Helsinki Language Centre.