CHAPTER VII

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

LESSON 1 The School Environment

This lesson will help you in understanding the importance of the social environment in teaching
and learning. It will help you familiarize the different components of the learning environment.
Especifically, the objectives of this lesson are the following:

• discuss the importance of the school environment to teaching and learning;

• identify the different components of the school environment; and

• analyze how the school environment affects the student learning

EDUCATION THEORY

The school environment refers to the academic environment where teaching and learning take
place. It includes the physical location, physical facilities, psychological climate, and community context.
According to Spencer and Blades (2005), the impact of physical environment on the behavior and
attitudes of teachers has a mediating effect on student achievement. Schneider (2003,cited in Spencer
and Blades,2005) also concluded that poor school conditions make it difficult for teachers to deliver
lessons. Hence, it is important for teachers to learn and find ways to build a learning environment that
can best accomodate diverse learners and trasform the school environment to achieve educational goals
and objectives. According to Weinsteinand David (1987,cited in Spencer and Blades 2005), the school
environment should serve the following common functions with respect to children's development:

• to foster personal identity

• to encourage the development of competence

• to provide opportunities for growth

• to promote sense of security and trust; and

• to provide interaction and privacy.

Since the school serves as the second home of students, it is important to keep it safe, secured, and
conducive for leaming. In the Philippines, the physical location and facilities for private schools are
designed in accordance with the minimum requirements of the Department of Education (DepEd).
Section 30.7 of DepEd Order No. 88, series of 2010 stipulates that the school should own sites adequate
for their own buildings, for physical education, athletics, military training and recreation, and for
vocational education where this course is required in the curriculum. Further, its size, nature, location,
and accessibility must adequately serve the purpose of the school. It should be free from noise,
unpleasant odors and dust, and should be sufficiently far from cockpits, dancing halls, bowling alleys,
movie houses, markets, garbage dumps, funeral parlors, cemeteries, heavy traffic, highway,jalls,railroad
yards, and manufacturing and industrial establishments. In addition, specific requirements for land area
and facilities are provided for the school's compliance prior to the issuance of permit to operate.

Moreover, the learning environment shall be in accordance with DepEd's vision that it shall be
learner-centered and adopts the mission to protect and promote the right of every Filipino to quality,
equitable, culture-based, and complete basic education where students learn in a child-friendly, gender-
sensitive, safe, and motivating environment.

Teachers facilitate learning and constantly nurture every learner. Administrators and staff, as
stewards of the institution, ensure an enabling and supportive learning environment for effective
leaming to happen. Family, community, and other stakeholders are actively engaged and share respon-
sibility for developing life-long learners.

The school which serves as the foundation of developing good moral values to children shall
promote the following DepEd Core Values of being maka-Diyos, maka-ao, makakalikasan, and
makabansa.
 LESSON 2

The Physical Learning Environment

This lesson will guide in understanding the physical component of the school environ ment. It will
help you in analyzing how the physical environment affects teaching and learning. Specifically, the
objectives of this lesson are the following:

• discuss how the physical environment should be structured and maintained for conducive
learning

• identify the different components of the physical environment; and analyze how the physical
environment affects student leaming.

Education Theory

The physical environment of a school is considered as one of the essential keys in creating a
positive learning environment. It refers to the physical characteristic of the school which includes
physical structures such as school buildings and classrooms, library and laboratory facilities, and offices
including the community where the school is situated. Since learning takes place mostly within the
school, it is important that the school should have appropriate facilities to support students' needs while
within the school.

According to the study conducted by Suleman & Hussain (2014) regarding the effect of a
classroom's physical environment on the academic achievement students, they concluded that well-
equipped classrooms and physical facilities have significant positive effects on students" academic
performance. The comfort that the physical facilities bring to students influences their concentration on
the lesson being taught that leads them to better understanding of the topic being discussed. Weimer
(2002) also emphasized that classroom environments affect behavior, including the motivation to learn
and the willingness to accept responsibility for leaming. Hence, school facilities and its location must be
strategically designed and maintained to ensure a safe and conducive learning environment. It is also
essential for the school to have policies and procedures on the use and maintenance of school facilities
and equipment to keep a positive learning environment.
 LESSON 3

Student-Centered Learning Environment

This lesson will guide in understanding the purposes of creating a student-centered learning
environment. It will help you in analyzing how a student-centered learning environment impacts
learners. Specifically, the objectives of this lesson are the following:

• discuss the benefits of a student-centered learning environment;

•analyze how teachers create a student-centered learning environment; and

•identify good practices in maintaining a student-centered learning environment.

Education Theory

The K to 12 Curriculum is designed in line with the principle that it should be learner- centered. A
leamer-centered/student-centered approach includes methods and strategies of teaching that shift the
focus of instruction from teachers to students. In a student-centered learning environment (SCLE), the
students' interest is acknowledged as the primary focus of instruction. It requires instructional
methodologies and techniques that acknowledge individual differences and promote inclusion. SCLE
places teachers as facilitators of learning that focuses on understanding the student's interests and
abilities including how they learn and the way how they will be assessed.

In order for the learner-centered curriculum to be implemented, teachers must be aware of the
principles that will help them in establishing a student-centered learning environment. The National
Research Council Report (Donovan et al. 1999), articulated that in designing a learner-centered
environment, teachers must pay close attention to the knowledge, skill, and attitudes that learners bring
into the classroom to understand the learners' conception and preconception of the subject matter.

Regeiluth, Myers, & Lee (2016) proposed the following foundational educational principles for learner-
centered education:

1. Attainment-based instruction: Learner progress should be based on learning rather than time.

2.Task-centered instruction: Instruction should be organized around the performance of authentic tasks.

3.Personalized instruction: Instruction during task performance should be personalized based on the
learners' competency level, learning or career goals, interests, and other characteristics.

4. Changed roles: The roles of the teacher, leamer, and technology should be trans- formed. Teachers
shall serve as facilitators and mentors, learners should be self- regulated and active rather than passive
leamers, and technology shall be whenever appropriate to support instruction.
5. Changed curriculum: The curriculum should be extended and recrganized in a way that is more closely
related to people's lives and more interdisciplinary, such as thinking effectively, acting effectively,
relating effectively, and accomplishing effectively.
 LESSON 4

School Safety, Security, and Emergency Preparedness

This lesson will help you analyze how to create a safe and healthy learning environment. It will guide in
planning for emergency preparedness and securing the school property and the life of stakeholders
within the school. Specifically, the objectives of this lesson are the following:

• discuss the processes of creating a safe learning environment;

•identify safety and precautionary measures within the school premises; and

•identify possible threats that may affect the safety and security of students and teachers.

Education Theory

School safety, security, and emergency preparedness plays a very crucial role in making the school
a comfortable place for students and teachers. It is one of the major considerations of parents in
choosing a school where to enroll their children. Keeping a positive learning environment is not an easy
task and requires close collaboration and coordination with teachers, parents, and members of the
community. Through the school-community collaboration, the school can help strengthen its emergency
plans and build a positive school climate and good relationship with the community that will encourage
everyone to share information regarding possible threats and avoid them from happening in the future.

Some of the common factors that affect school safety and security are associated with or caused by
natural disasters (ie. typhoon, flood, earthquake), physical environment (ie. building structures, facilities
and equipment, location of the school), and human factor (bullying, harassment, criminal acts, civil
disturbances). As such, school officials should ensure proper management of the school environment for
safety and security.

In 2015, the DepEd established a system of coordination and information management to provide
guidance to the DepEd Field Office, schools, and Disaster and Risk Reduction Management (DRRM)
coordinators on the their respective roles and functions through DepEd Order No. 21, series of 2015.
The said order also aims to capacitate DRRMO coordinators and other DepEd constituents to disasters
and emergencies and to facilitate an immediate and, efficient flow of information during disaster and
emergencies.

As a teacher, it is very important to be responsive to students during an emergency to help ensure

•Participate in emergency drills.

•Familiarize yourself with designated emergency routes and evacuation areas.

•Practice how to maintain order while in assembly area.

•Always be aware of students attendance.

•Establish a buddy system for students and teachers with disabilities.

•Establish communication and coordination with designated DRRM Coordinators

Child-friendly Learning Environment

This lesson will guide you in understanding how to create and maintain a child-friend learning
environment. It will help you understand the benefits of creating a child-friend learning environment.
Specifically, the objectives of this lesson are the following:

•discuss how to create and maintain a child-friendly learning environment;

•discuss the characteristics of a child-friendly learning environment; and

•identify strategies that promote a child-friendly and gender-sensitive learning environment.

Education Theory

Creating a child-friendly, gender-sensitive, safe, and motivating environment is one of the DepEd's
mission in order to protect the rights of every Filipino to quality, equitable, culture- based, and complete
basic education. DepEd's mission is consistent with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4-Quality
Education and SDG 5-Gender Equality which require not just inclusive and quality education but
promote gender-equality and empowerment of all women respectively. Regardless of the physical
condition of the learning environment, the responsibility of fulfilling DepEd's mission to transform it into
a child-friendly learning environment lies within the hands of school administrators and teachers. This
means providing leamers with quality education, a safe and secured learning environment with
adequately trained teachers equipped with adequate instructional resources.

According to UNICEF (2012), a rights-based and child friendly-school ensures a physically safe, secured,
healthy, and psychologically enabling learning environment for every learner. It recognizes, encourages,
and supports students' capacities as learners by providing a school culture, teaching behaviors, and
curriculum content that are focused on learning and the learner. It also aims to develop a learning
environment in which children are motivated to lear and help children realize their right to quality basic
education.

UNICEF (2012) highlighted two characteristics of a rights-based and child-friendly learning

•It is a child-seeking school-actively identifying excluded children to get them enrolled in school
and included in learning, treating children as subjects with rights and State as duty-bearers with
obligations to fulfill these rights, and demonstrating. promoting, and helping to monitor the rights and
well-being of all children in the community.
 •It is a child-centered school-acting in the best interests of the child, leading to the realization of
the child's full potential, and concerned both about the "whole" child (including her health, nutritional
status, and well-being) and about what happens to children-in their families and communities-before
they enter school and after they leave it.