Take a walk through any home improvement store, and you are likely to see the word “security” over and over again. You can find security lights, fences, doors, locks, windows, cameras, alarms, and even mailboxes. Why is security so important to us? We all have a need to feel safe in our environment. We prefer well-lit parking lots. We like parks with clearly marked trails. We look for places that allow us to recognize and respond to any danger.

Just like adults, children need environments that help them feel secure. Children depend on adults to meet their basic needs: food, water, shelter, clothing. They also depend on us to protect them from harm. Feeling safe opens the door for children to build relationships, become confident, and meet their potential (Maslow, 1943, 1945). We cannot expect children to learn if they do not feel safe.

Teach

The staff members you work with enter your programs with a range of experiences and education that influence how they design environments for young children. As a coach, it is your role to make sure all staff members understand your program’s policies, procedures, and practices related to safe environments. Teach staff members how to use the specific forms and environmental checklists required by your program. Teach them who to contact and what steps to take if they detect a problem in indoor or outdoor environments. Teach staff members what to expect from you and other administrators who perform safety inspections.

It’s also important to make sure staff members understand why safety is our first priority. The Virtual Lab School offers a variety of learning experiences to help all direct-care staff members think about and reflect on safety. The Explore section of each lesson contains reflection activities. Encourage staff members to read these activities, complete them, and share their responses with you. Although there are not usually right and wrong answers, it can be very useful to review staff members’ responses. This can give you an insight into their thinking and help you evaluate how well they understand the content. If a staff member misunderstands the content or does not respond in a way that is consistent with your program’s philosophy, it is important to talk with the staff member about the responses. You can ask reflective questions and help guide the staff member toward more appropriate responses.

Model

You are a role model for staff members as they design safe environments. Your experience, expertise, and professional connections help staff members make the most of their space. If a staff member is struggling with providing safe indoor and outdoor environments, it can be helpful to make arrangements for them to observe other spaces and talk to knowledgeable peers about their environments. You are a valuable resource as you point out features of the environment that keep children safe. Furthermore, you model effective communication strategies by providing a consistent message to staff members who work different shifts in the same classroom.

You may also walk around with new staff members as they complete daily safety inspections. Point out important safety features or risks. Model how to complete required paperwork and how to follow through with problems. If there is a concern about safety in any environment, make sure the staff members know how to report the problem. If you see any serious safety risks, you must take immediate action. A child’s life may depend on it. Examples of serious safety risks might include broken playground equipment or downed electrical lines. It is important to speak up immediately and help staff members address these issues. Once the threat of immediate danger is eliminated, you can help develop a plan for preventing such problems in the future. Make sure you are familiar with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission and its recall lists. You may need to lead efforts to identify and exclude materials that have been recalled. You can find a link for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website in the References and Resources section of this lesson.

Active supervision is key to keeping children safe. Active supervision involves scanning, predicting, and assessing. This involves moving through indoor or outdoor spaces, scanning children and the environment for hazards, predicting potential hazards and making necessary changes to the environment. Safe equipment and play space is important, but nothing replaces active supervision. It is important that staff members in your program practice active supervision.

Observe

It is your responsibility to ensure that staff members learn to inspect indoor and outdoor environments for safety. You must make sure all spaces are safe for children. Your program may have tools you should use to evaluate the safety of indoor and outdoor environments. Several environmental rating scales also are commercially available (ITERS-R, ECERS-R, SACERS). You can also use the National Association for the Education of Young Children environment standards. These tools provide valuable information to help focus a staff member’s professional development around safety. You can also use the ones provided in the Apply section of this lesson.

The most important thing you can do is observe staff members and talk with them about safe environments. It is important for you to know each staff member’s individual strengths and challenges. Remember, you may also need to support consistency across staff members who work in the same classroom on different shifts.

In this lesson, you will follow a case example that focuses on how a coach could help staff members ensure that environments are safe for children. Although the case example comes from a toddler classroom, the safety concerns are relevant to all age groups. Principles of designing a safe environment for toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children are similar. We must provide environments that encourage safe behaviors like walking instead of running, or cleaning up after oneself. This case example will provide examples of ways you can plan, observe, and provide feedback to staff members.

Case Example Step 1: Action Plan

As a coach , you can help staff members develop action plans. Action plans are tools that help staff identify changes they want to make. They help identify resources, and they help set a timeline for change. Any potential safety risks you see may become action plan targets. Think about the toddler classroom you saw in the video. Here is a sample action plan item that “Joanne” completed for her toddler classroom.

Case Example Step 2: Providing Feedback

Feedback is the heart of the coaching process. When you provide feedback, you are supporting and motivating staff members in their work. You are sharing information about what you have observed, and you are providing objective viewpoints upon which they can reflect. It is important to ask reflective questions and to help empower staff members to solve their problems. Remember that observing the environment for safety can also align to curriculum and learning-environment requirements.

Joanne asked her coach, Michael, to keep track of how often children were running unsafely in the classroom. Here is their conversation.

Case Example Step 3: Providing Resources to Promote Safety

All of us need the right tools to do our jobs. Use the information you have gathered to connect staff members with resources they need. You might model a skill, arrange for a staff member to observe in another classroom or program, bring in materials from a lending library, or brainstorm new ways to use materials. You might also help connect them to resources about teaming or working with other staff members to solve problems. The University of Minnesota REACH has a variety of resources for developing your coaching skills and helping support adult learners. For example, see https://reachfamilies.umn.edu/about-professional-development#.

Additional Examples of Environments

As a coach, you will likely see a range of environments across a range of age groups. Watch the following videos to see examples of environments with varying levels of safety. Because the case example followed an infant and toddler setting, these additional examples will represent preschool and school-age settings. Each video ends with a summary of how you might follow-up with the staff members.

Preschool Settings

Watch these examples of preschool environments. As you watch, think about the competencies you see related to safe environments for preschool children. Then read the table at the end of this section to learn more.

School-Age Settings

Watch these examples of school-age environments. As you watch, think about the competencies you see related to safe environments for school-age children.

Completing this Course

For more information on what to expect in this course and a list of the accompanying Learn, Explore and Apply resources and activities offered throughout the lessons, visit the Training & Curriculum Specialist Safe Environments Course Guide. 

To support the professional development of the direct care staff members or family child care providers you oversee, you can access their corresponding Course Guides:

• Infant & Toddler Safe Environments Course Guide
• Preschool Safe Environments Course Guide
• School-Age Safe Environments Course Guide
• Family Child Care Safe Environments Course Guide