essay for school environment

Essay on School Environment

Students are often asked to write an essay on School Environment in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on School Environment

Importance of school environment.

A school environment plays a crucial role in shaping a student’s life. It is a place where we learn, grow, and develop essential skills.

Physical Environment

The physical environment includes classrooms, libraries, labs, and playgrounds. It should be clean, safe, and conducive to learning.

Social Environment

The social environment involves relationships with teachers and peers. A positive social environment promotes respect, cooperation, and understanding.

Academic Environment

The academic environment focuses on learning and intellectual growth. It encourages curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.

In conclusion, a good school environment nurtures and inspires students to reach their full potential.

250 Words Essay on School Environment

The importance of a school environment.

A school environment plays an instrumental role in shaping a student’s academic, social, and emotional growth. It is not just a physical space where learning occurs, but a complex ecosystem that encompasses various elements, including teachers, students, curriculum, and infrastructure.

Physical Aspects of School Environment

The physical aspects of a school environment significantly influence students’ engagement and learning outcomes. Well-ventilated classrooms, clean surroundings, and access to facilities such as libraries and laboratories foster an atmosphere conducive to learning. Moreover, the availability of sports and recreational facilities promotes physical well-being, contributing to holistic development.

Social and Emotional Aspects

The social and emotional aspects of a school environment are equally crucial. An environment that encourages respect, inclusivity, and collaboration nurtures a sense of belonging among students. It fosters positive relationships, builds self-esteem, and promotes emotional intelligence.

Role of Teachers

Teachers play a pivotal role in creating a positive school environment. Their teaching style, attitude, and interaction with students can either motivate or demotivate learners. Teachers who establish a supportive and responsive classroom environment encourage students to actively participate in the learning process.

In conclusion, a positive school environment is a cornerstone of effective learning. It not only enhances academic performance but also fosters social and emotional development. Therefore, schools should strive to create an environment that is physically comfortable, socially nurturing, and emotionally supportive.

500 Words Essay on School Environment

The essence of a school environment.

Schools are not just brick and mortar structures where academic knowledge is imparted. They are dynamic ecosystems where young minds are nurtured, shaped, and molded into responsible citizens. The environment of a school plays a pivotal role in the holistic development of a student, fostering not just intellectual growth but also social, emotional, and moral development.

The Impact of Physical Environment

The physical environment of a school is the first aspect that influences a student’s learning experience. A well-maintained, clean, and vibrant infrastructure can create a positive ambiance that enhances the learning process. Classrooms, libraries, laboratories, sports facilities, and even the school cafeteria contribute to the overall physical environment. These spaces must be designed and maintained in a manner that encourages curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. The physical environment should also cater to the safety and health of students, ensuring adequate sanitation, ventilation, and emergency preparedness.

The Role of Social Environment

The social environment of a school, shaped by the interactions between students, teachers, and other staff members, is equally crucial. A respectful, inclusive, and positive social environment fosters a sense of belonging among students. It encourages them to participate actively in school activities, express their ideas freely, and develop healthy relationships. The social environment also plays a significant role in shaping a student’s behavior, attitudes, and values. Schools must therefore prioritize building a supportive and respectful social environment that celebrates diversity and promotes mutual respect.

The Importance of Emotional Environment

The emotional environment of a school is often overlooked, but it is a vital aspect of a student’s school experience. A positive emotional environment is one where students feel safe, valued, and understood. It promotes emotional well-being and resilience, enabling students to cope with stress, overcome challenges, and develop emotional intelligence. Schools must therefore create an environment where students’ emotional needs are acknowledged and addressed, and where mental health is given the same importance as physical health and academic achievement.

The Influence of Moral Environment

The moral environment of a school shapes the character and values of its students. Schools have a responsibility to instill in students a strong moral compass, guiding them towards ethical behavior and responsible citizenship. This can be achieved by integrating moral and ethical education into the curriculum, promoting community service, and setting a good example through the behavior of teachers and staff.

In conclusion, the environment of a school is a complex and multifaceted entity that significantly influences a student’s development. It is the collective responsibility of school administrators, teachers, parents, and students themselves to create and maintain a positive and conducive school environment. Such an environment not only enhances academic achievement but also contributes to the development of well-rounded individuals who are equipped to face the challenges of the future.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Pollution Free Environment
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A school environment is a crucial component of student’s life. Schools should provide students with a safe environment in which to nurture and grow emotionally, behaviourally and academically; and at the same developing relationships with others. Each and every student requires structure, respect, stability, limitation and boundaries and safe environment or an environment. In the school environment, there are things that positively influence students’ performance. Such things include having good friends within the school, perceiving that teachers are caring and supportive, believing that discipline is efficient and fair, participating in extracurricular activities, being a part of a school and having a sense of belonging. Students become incorporated in their environment when they perceive that the adults in the school mind about them as individuals and their learning.

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Role of effective school environment

Students who perceive to be connected to their school environment are less likely to be involved in risky health behaviours such as drug use, early sex, violence, cigarette smoking, suicidal attempts and thoughts and do better academically. An escalating connection between the students and their environment reduces fighting, bullying, vandalism, and absenteeism while enhancing education motivation, academic performance, completion rates and school attendance. Students are more prone to prosper when they feel a connection to the school. Students who view their school administration and teachers as creating a well-structured learning environment in which expectations are high, fair, caring and clear are more likely to be linked to the school and succeed.

Ways to develop an effective school environment

Regardless of other circumstances, an effective school environment could have a positive impact on the achievements of students. There are several ways to develop an effective school environment. Firstly, create an organised and safe place. An effective school environment must first be a place where students can perceive themselves as emotionally and physically safe. It has to be a supportive community where teachers and kids from all backgrounds can exclusively focus on learning. To attain safe environment where students are free to reach their potential academically, schools have to concentrate on hindering misbehaviour through the implementation of school-wide positive behaviour intervention. These interventions must stress emotional learning and social skills to educate students on cultural understanding and conflict resolution.

Secondly, the school should have a relatable leader. In an efficient school environment, the principle should be a leader of leaders. The principal should not only be an authority figure but also be a partner, cheerleader and coach. Also, the principal should also realise that he or she must not operate in a top-down authority structure but realise that the best and appropriate solutions arises from a collaborative effort.

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Essay on Environment: Examples & Tips

• Updated on  
• May 30, 2022

In the 21st century, the Environmental crisis is one of the biggest issues. The world has been potentially impacted by the resulting hindrance in the environmental balance, due to the rising in industrialization and urbanization. This led to several natural calamities which creates an everlasting severe impact on the environment for years. To familiarize students with the importance environment, the subject ‘Environmental Studies’ is part of the curriculum in primary, secondary as well as higher school education. To test the knowledge of the students related to Environment, a question related to the topic in the form of essay or article writing is included in the exam. This blog aims to focus on providing details to students on the way, they can draft a well-written essay on Environment.

This Blog Includes:

Overview on environment, tips on writing an effective essay, format (150 words), sample essay on environment, environment essay (100 words), essay on environment (200-250 words), environment essay (300 words), world environment day.

To begin the essay on Environment, students must know what it is all about. Biotic (plants, animals, and microorganisms) and abiotic (non-living physical factors) components in our surroundings fall under the terminology of the environment. Everything that surrounds us is a part of the environment and facilitates our existence on the planet.

Before writing an effective essay on Environment, another thing students need to ensure is to get familiarised with the structure of essay writing. The major tips which students need to keep in mind, while drafting the essay are:

• Research on the given topic thoroughly : The students must research the topic given in the essay, for example: while drafting an essay on the environment, students must mention the recent events, so to provide the reader with a view into their understanding of this concept.
• Jot down the important points: When the students research the topic, students must note down the points which need to be included in the essay.
• Quote down the important examples: Students must quote the important examples in the introductory paragraphs and the subsequent paragraphs as well.
• Revise the Essay: The student after finishing writing students must revise the content to locate any grammatical errors as well as other mistakes.

Essay on Environment: Format & Samples

Now that you are aware of the key elements of drafting an essay on Environment, take a look at the format of essay writing first:

Introduction

The student must begin the essay by, detailing an overview of the topic in a very simple way in around 30-40 words. In the introduction of the essay on Environment, the student can make it interesting by recent instances or adding questions.

Body of Content

The content after the introduction can be explained in around 80 words, on a given topic in detail. This part must contain maximum detail in this part of the Essay. For the Environment essay, students can describe ways the environment is hampered and different ways to prevent and protect it.

In the essay on Environment, students can focus on summing the essay in 30-40 words, by writing its aim, types, and purposes briefly. This section must swaddle up all the details which are explained in the body of the content.

Below is a sample of an Essay on Environment to give you an idea of the way to write one:

The natural surroundings that enable life to thrive, nurture, and destroy on our planet called earth are referred to as an environment. The natural environment is vital to the survival of life on Earth, allowing humans, animals, and other living things to thrive and evolve naturally. However, our ecosystem is being harmed as a result of certain wicked and selfish human actions. It is the most essential issue, and everyone should understand how to safeguard our environment and maintain the natural balance on this planet for life to continue to exist.

Nature provides an environment that nourishes life on the planet. The environment encompasses everything humans need to live, including water, air, sunshine, land, plants, animals, forests, and other natural resources. Our surroundings play a critical role in enabling the existence of healthy life on the planet. However, due to man-made technical advancements in the current period, our environment is deteriorating day by day. As a result, environmental contamination has risen to the top of our priority list.

Environmental pollution has a detrimental impact on our everyday lives in a variety of ways, including socially, physically, economically, emotionally, and cognitively. Contamination of the environment causes a variety of ailments that can last a person’s entire life. It is not a problem of a neighborhood or a city; it is a global issue that cannot be handled by a single person’s efforts. It has the potential to end life in a day if it is not appropriately handled. Every ordinary citizen should participate in the government’s environmental protection effort.

Between June 5 and June 16, World Environment Day is commemorated to raise awareness about the environment and to educate people about its importance. On this day, awareness initiatives are held in a variety of locations.

The environment is made up of plants, animals, birds, reptiles, insects, water bodies, fish, humans, trees, microbes, and many other things. Furthermore, they all contribute to the ecosystem.

The physical, social, and cultural environments are the three categories of environments. Besides, various scientists have defined different types and numbers of environments.

1. Do not leave rubbish in public areas. 2. Minimize the use of plastic 3. Items should be reduced, reused, and recycled. 4. Prevent water and soil contamination

Hope the blog has given you an idea of how to write an essay on the Environment. If you are planning to study abroad and want help in writing your essays, then let Leverage Edu be your helping hand. Our experts will assist you in writing an excellent SOP for your study abroad consultant application. 

Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

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The Essential Traits of a Positive School Climate

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The single most important job of the principal is creating a school environment where students feel safe, supported, engaged, and accepted, according to many child development and school leadership experts.

The reason?

Children who are afraid of bullying or fights have less bandwidth for learning. Negative emotions, such as feeling alienated or misunderstood, make it harder for the brain to process information and to learn.

On the flip side, brain development flourishes when children feel emotionally and physically safe, when they know they have adults who care about them, and when they are challenged in their learning.

It’s no wonder, then, that research has found that a positive school climate can improve students’ academic achievement, attendance, engagement, and behavior, as well as teacher satisfaction and retention.

While this may all seem like a no-brainer—of course students learn better when they feel safe and seen—the practice of creating and sustaining a positive school climate can be extremely difficult. School climate involves everyone connected to the school—students, teachers, support staff, administrators and parents—and almost all aspects of their experiences in school—from how teachers address students to whether the school building is kept clean.

What, then, are the hallmarks of a healthy school climate and what can principals do to nurture and sustain one?

Here are four widely agreed upon components of a healthy school environment, why they matter, and how principals can improve them.

Strong relationships are the foundation.

Do students find it easy to talk to teachers in their school? Do they feel there is a teacher who would notice their absence?

Positive and stable relationships among staff, students, and caregivers undergird a school’s climate. It’s vital that children feel they are known and supported in school. And while this may sound obvious, it is something that many schools struggle with.

“We have found that a lot of people don’t understand what that means, it’s not about social relationships,” says Elaine Allensworth, the director of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research which has extensively studied principals’ roles in shaping school climate. “Students want to know that their teachers are going to help them succeed in school.”

Strong relationships not only help students feel safe and accepted in their school, they also help students build resilience to cope with adverse childhood experiences.

There are innumerous strategies for building relationships . Teachers can greet each student as they enter the classroom. They can conduct daily check-in exercises where they ask students how they are feeling. Principals in elementary schools can “loop” classrooms keeping teachers with the same group of students for multiple years. At the middle and high school levels, they can create an advisory system where teachers work with a small, consistent group of students weekly or daily to build a sense of community.

Students aren’t the only ones who benefit from investing in relationships. Stronger connections between teachers and students makes teachers feel like their work is more effective and closer relationships among teachers helps them feel more supported. Caregivers are more comfortable asking the school for help for their child if they feel they have strong relationships with their children’s teachers and principal.

Principals can forge deeper relationships with parents by actively seeking their input on how school is working for their children—either by asking teachers reach out to parents for informal chats or distributing surveys to families to fill out.

Principals can help foster positive connections among teachers—whether in person or remotely—by setting a few minutes aside during staff meetings for exercises that build relationships . One simple idea: a gratitude circle where staff members are given time to reflect on small things their coworkers have done for them recently and to directly thank one another for the favor or kindness.

High academic expectations, yes, but also strong supports.

Do teachers feel that it is part of their job to prepare students to succeed in college? Does the school encourage students to take challenging classes no matter their race, ethnicity, or cultural background?

Another hallmark of a healthy school climate is one where educators have high academic expectations for all students.

Educators assist students in setting meaningful academic goals for themselves and promote a strong academic culture where post-secondary education is a goal.

But it’s not enough for teachers to, say, constantly talk to students about going to college or following their dreams. Schools must also provide students with the tools they need to meet the expectations they are raising for students.

High expectations without support just sets students up for failure, undermining their confidence, says Allensworth.

Principals must carve out space in the school schedule to give students the extra time and help they need, said Jack Baldermann, the principal of Westmont High School in Illinois. For example, “we have a period every Wednesday at the end of the day … where students and teachers can work on their assessment information and fine tune where they are strong and where they can get stronger,” he said.

Additionally, that support should be given automatically. Principals should create support systems where students must opt-out of help rather than opt-in, said Allensworth.

Whether a student struggling academically gets the additional support they need shouldn’t depend on a student feeling comfortable enough to ask for help or a teacher taking it upon themselves to follow up with a student.

Consistency in expectations for behavior and discipline for misbehavior.

Do adults reward students for positive behavior? Are school rules applied equally to all students? Do students see discipline as fair?

A safe and orderly environment is another key aspect of a good school climate, and rules and discipline are tools that principals and teachers use to make that happen. But schools must have clear expectations for behavior, teach students how to meet those expectations, and acknowledge when students are doing so.

In a school with a healthy climate, principals, teachers, and staff focus on prevention. When discipline is used, it’s attuned to preserving relationships and respecting students’ dignity.

Discipline, when doled out, should be appropriate to students’ developmental stage and proportional to their behavior, taking care to ensure there are procedures for students with disabilities, and that all students are disciplined following established rules.

Students should be taken out of class only as a last resort, and if they are removed, they should be placed in an alternative setting that provides them with academic instruction.

There are many strategies for improving school discipline such as using restorative justice practices and positive behavioral interventions and supports.

But whatever strategy a school is using to address misbehavior, it is of utmost importance that rules be consistently enforced among all students regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and disability state, said Francis Huang, an associate professor in the college of education at the University of Missouri and an expert on school climate.

When rules aren’t applied equitably, students don’t see them as fair, he said. “If they don’t think they’re fair, it may challenge students to test those rules.”

To make sure rules are being applied consistently, principals can start by reviewing the discipline data to look for trends as well as the procedures for discipline referrals.

A next step is to directly ask students, teachers, and parents—either in-person or through anonymous surveys—whether they feel school rules are applied equitably and discipline is fair.

Any changes to discipline policies can become a major source of friction between principals and teachers, so it’s important principals clearly communicate new expectations to staff and provide them with adequate training on how to implement new discipline programs.

Regular collection of feedback, followed by adjustments.

Once the school starts a new program, does leadership follow up to make sure that it’s working?

Underneath the robust relationships, high but supported academic expectations, and thoughtful discipline, school leaders who are successful at setting and sustaining a healthy school climate are consistently gathering feedback on how the school community is experiencing school life.

This is primarily done by surveying students, staff, and parents a few times a year, asking the kinds of questions posed throughout this article.

Combined with data on discipline, attendance, test scores, and even small focus groups, principals can get a quantitative and qualitative read on the health of the school’s environment and how to improve it.

Not having data is like trying to fly a plane without any instruments, said Huang. Without data, principals can’t know what adjustments need to be made to stay aloft or how far they are from their destination or goals.

Data illuminates weaknesses that need shoring up and provides feedback on whether a new intervention is working and improving school climate.

Data is also important for supporting equitable outcomes because it can help unearth inequities among student groups, such as whether students of a particular race are getting suspended at higher rates or report feeling less supported by the adults in their school.

It’s important to remember that not all students will experience their school the same way and that individual students’ perceptions of their school’s environment and culture matter to their learning.

Share the data widely—incorporate it into staff meetings, parent meetings, share it in newsletters and townhalls—to broaden its impact and communicate the importance of building and keeping a positive school climate.

Other components of school climate:

There isn’t total consensus on all the components that add up to a healthy school climate and culture.

While some definitions focus on the social and academic aspects of school climate, the concept can also include physical features such as how clean the building is and whether the lights and heating work properly, which creates a welcoming environment and demonstrates to students that school leaders care about their comfort. Procedural considerations such as having emergency plans in place, which factor into feelings of safety, can also fall into the school climate bucket, as can community-building extracurriculars such as clubs and events.

But the bottom line, school leadership experts say, is that principals must decide what the definition of a positive climate is for their school—one that is relevant to their community and based on research—before they can take steps to strengthen it.

Coverage of social and emotional learning is supported in part by a grant from the NoVo Foundation, at www.novofoundation.org . Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage. A version of this article appeared in the October 14, 2020 edition of Education Week as The Essential Traits of a Positive School Climate

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The psychosocial school environment

This brief examines the impact of the psychosocial school environment on student learning outcomes. It provides suggestions of how educational planners and decision-makers can ensure a positive learning environment for all.

A positive psychosocial school environment helps to create a conducive environment for effective teaching and learning. It relates to ‘the dynamic relationship between psychological aspects of our experience (our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors) and our wider social experience (our relationships, family and community networks, social values, and cultural practices)’ (INEE, 2016: 8). Key elements contributing to the psychosocial school climate include the quality of personal relationships at school, methods used in the process of learning, classroom management and discipline, students’ and teachers’ well-being, prevalence of school-based violence, and social and emotional learning (SEL). 

Key aspects for a nurturing psychosocial environment include:

• People – friendships and relationships that students create with peers and teachers in schools; this also links to effective parental involvement, positive teacher attitudes as well as collaborative practices.
• Process – a fun and engaging atmosphere that allows students and teachers to be creative, collaborative, and free to learn without the fear of making mistakes. This also relates to useful, relevant, and engaging learning content and reasonable workload.
• Place – a warm and friendly school environment with more open classrooms and colourful as well as meaningful displays (UNESCO Office Bangkok, 2016) ( more on the physical school environment ).

Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) recognizes the importance of the psychosocial school environment. Implementation target 4.a aims to ‘build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability, and gender-sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive, and effective learning environments for all’. Thematic Indicator 4.a.2 was adopted in 2018 to measure progress towards this target and to account for the ‘percentage of students who experienced bullying during the past 12 months, by sex’.

What we know

Students’ social and emotional experiences influence learning processes and in turn affect learning outcomes (UNESCO MGIEP, 2020). Schools that prioritize students’ well-being have a higher chance of improving their academic achievements (UNESCO Office Bangkok, 2017). Numerous variables related to school climate have been positively associated with better student performance in reading in OECD countries (e.g. growth mindset of students, greater support from teachers, teacher enthusiasm, greater co-operation among peers, students’ sense of belonging at school) (OECD, 2019). Attending to the social and emotional needs of students and teachers is key, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many students have missed out on social interactions and support from teachers and peers (Yorke et al., 2021). 

The prevalence of school violence (physical, psychological, and sexual), as well as bullying both in-person and online, is a key obstacle to a positive psychosocial school environment (UNESCO, 2017). School violence has a significant impact on the physical and mental well-being of learners, their ability to learn and their educational outcomes. Victims and witnesses of school violence are more likely to miss school, have lower grades, and/or drop out of school entirely. School violence also contributes to their lower self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues (Global Education Monitoring Report team and UNGEI, 2015; UNESCO, 2017; Attawell, 2019). PISA 2018 and TIMSS 2019 data demonstrate that greater exposure to bullying was associated with lower performance in reading and mathematics and science respectively (OECD, 2019; Mullis et al., 2019).

Plan International estimates that at least 246 million children suffer from school-related violence every year (Greene et al., 2013). Studies using Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) and the Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) estimate that, globally, almost one in three students report having been bullied over the past month (Attawell, 2019), but the prevalence and types of bullying vary between regions. According to the End Corporal Punishment initiative,  corporal punishment is still not fully prohibited in schools in 64 countries, and in some of them, it is widespread. A number of surveys established that ‘the proportion of students who had experienced corporal punishment at school was 90% or more in nine countries, 70–89% in 11 countries and 13–69% in 43 countries’ (Attawell, 2019: 20). 

Certain pupil characteristics may place them at a higher risk of experiencing school-based violence. These include physical appearance (e.g. being overweight or underweight), nationality, race and colour, socioeconomic status, gender, indigenous status, sexual orientation, disability, migrant status, HIV status, and orphanhood (UNESCO, 2017). Based on GSHS data, globally, physical appearance is the most frequent reason for bullying (with female students more at risk of being bullied for this reason) followed by bullying based on race, nationality, or colour (Attawell, 2019). However, sexual orientation and gender identity/expression is also often a reason for bullying; data show that a large proportion of LGBT students experience homophobic or transphobic violence in school (UNESCO, 2016). Moreover, indigenous children are particularly vulnerable to school-based violence due to ‘a confluence of factors’ associated with the social exclusion of these groups (UNICEF et al., 2013).

Both boys and girls experience school-based violence. However, while boys are more likely to experience or perpetrate physical bullying, experience harsh discipline, and be involved in physical fights, girls are more subject to psychological bullying such as social exclusion and the spreading of rumours (UNESCO, 2017; Attawell, 2019). Some studies indicate that girls are also at greater risk of cyberbullying (Global Education Monitoring Report team and UNGEI, 2015). Comprehensive global data on the prevalence of sexual violence within schools are missing, as related incidents are often under-reported or not disaggregated by sex. Nevertheless, although both female and male children experience gender-based violence, ‘girls are the main victims of unwanted sexual touching and non-consensual sex attempts perpetrated by classmates and teachers, respectively’ (Global Education Monitoring Report team, 2020: 52). 

A number of studies proved the effectiveness of evidence-based SEL programmes to support students’ academic achievements (CASEL, 2020) and reduce bullying and violence in schools and communities (INEE, 2016). By developing competencies such as resilience, self-awareness, collaboration, empathy, and respect, SEL also contributes to students’ pathways beyond education (Yorke et al., 2021). SEL programmes may ‘improve school attendance, engagement, and motivation; reduce negative student behavior … benefit the mental health of staff and students by lowering stress, anxiety, and depression; improve health outcomes by reducing teenage pregnancies and drug abuse; lead to better staff retention and higher morale’ (INEE, 2016: 12). School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic proved the importance of SEL in helping students cope with difficult situations, practice empathy, and manage anxiety and loss (CASEL, 2020). SEL is especially important for disadvantaged children who received limited support during the pandemic (Yorke et al., 2021) or to help those in conflict settings to re-engage with learning (EducationLinks, 2018). 

Lack of governance and accountability mechanisms: Some countries still do not have comprehensive policies to protect students from school-based violence, while others have adopted these laws recently and many remain poorly enforced. In many contexts, effective channels to report violence are missing (UNESCO and UN Women, 2016; Global Education Monitoring Report team, 2020). Legislation to prevent violence occurring online is in even earlier stages of development (Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development and UNESCO, 2019).

Conflicting priorities: Schools face many challenges in managing logistical, pedagogical, organizational, and technological issues to accelerate academic learning; these issues have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (CASEL, 2020). In the context of an increasing emphasis on academic results, it is difficult to keep the focus on socio-emotional skills and school-based violence (Attawell, 2019).

Lack of data: Accurate, reliable, and comprehensive data are needed on the prevalence, nature, and causes of school violence and bullying to inform policy, planning, and budgeting. They are also important to identify perpetrators and hold them responsible for their actions, as well as to protect victims. However, this information is often missing at national and international levels as school-based violence is frequently under-reported and collecting this data is particularly controversial and challenging (Greene et al., 2013; UNESCO and UN Women, 2016; UNESCO, 2017). This is due to the nature and sensitivity of this information, especially when it comes to violence against children perpetrated by adults in a position of power. Consequently, challenges emerge in terms of incorporating related questions into regular school censuses and obtaining reliable national statistics.

There is limited evidence on which strategies are the most effective to reduce school-based violence and improve student well-being. Few policies have been evaluated and existing studies differ in their methodology and rigour (UNESCO and UN Women, 2016; OECD, 2017; Attawell, 2019).

Unprepared teachers: Teachers are often ill-equipped to attend to the social and emotional needs of students, and to manage classrooms and conflicts effectively as well as teach SEL. There is also a lack of teacher development programmes on learner well-being and happiness in education (UNESCO Office Bangkok, 2017; UNESCO MGIEP, 2020).

Social and cultural norms might discourage victims of violence from reporting incidents. They also make it more difficult for some actors (e.g. teachers, policy-makers) to openly speak about issues of violence. Differentiated expected gender roles remain persistent in many contexts, and violence in schools reflects them (Global Education Monitoring Report team and UNGEI, 2017).

Poor SEL implementation: SEL programmes are often fragmented, short, and marginalized if not part of the core curriculum. Limited knowledge on how SEL can be infused into academic subjects is also an issue (UNESCO MGIEP, 2020).

Policy and planning

Developing comprehensive national and school policies or laws on school-based violence as well as codes of conduct, digital safety guidance, or other related frameworks for staff and students is a priority for national governments (Greene et al., 2013; UNESCO and UN Women, 2016; UNESCO, 2017). Policies specifically targeting identity-based bullying (e.g. bullying based on race or sexuality) are needed (UNESCO and French Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, 2020).

Improving data collection: Systematic monitoring of the prevalence and type of school-based violence, including violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, is key to addressing related challenges (UNESCO, 2016). This could be done by adding related questions to the annual school census or other data-collection tools that feed into education management information systems (Cornu and Liu, 2019). However, it may be difficult to obtain reliable statistics through this channel, especially when it relates to violence perpetrated by adults against children. Alternative ways to gather this information include large-scale assessments and other specific surveys, such as the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) programmes. Data-collection channels need to be child-sensitive and confidential. Moreover, rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of existing programmes (e.g. anti-violence or bullying, SEL, students’ well-being) is critical in order to adjust activities appropriately (Attawell, 2019). Results from some large-scale student assessments (e.g. Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study on Education Quality, TERCE; Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems, PASEC) could be used to identify the most effective strategies in specific contexts (Dunne et al., 2017).

Ensuring adequate teacher training: Teachers need to be prepared to equip students with knowledge on how to prevent and respond to school-based violence (UNESCO, 2017), teach SEL, contribute to students’ social and emotional development, recognize and address schoolwork-related anxiety, and manage classrooms effectively (OECD, 2017). Disciplinary issues in classrooms were associated with poorer reading performance in OECD countries (OECD, 2019). Successful countries focused on preparing teachers to use positive approaches to classroom management (Attawell, 2019) and providing them with a range of alternative classroom discipline strategies (Turner and Hares, 2021). Allocating female teachers was a successful strategy to reduce school-based violence in some Latin America countries (Dunne et al., 2017). 

Developing appropriate curricula: Specific curricula can prepare students to recognize and challenge school-based violence and act when it takes place (UNESCO, 2017). Curriculum entry points include ‘civics education, life skills education and comprehensive sexuality education’ (UNESCO, 2017: 39). Moreover, life skills education may play an important role in developing the social and emotional skills that students need to prevent violence (UNESCO, 2017). More generally, it is important to define education outcomes that include SEL and overall student well-being and then monitor them from early grades (INEE, 2019). Analysis of a number of SEL programmes found that the most successful among them were sequenced and focused, used active forms of learning, allocated sufficient time, and had explicit learning goals (INEE, 2016). Appropriate textbooks and learning materials promoting healthy, safe, equal, and non-violent relationships should support the curriculum (UNESCO, 2017).

Cross-sectoral approach and partnerships: Collaboration among education, health, and the youth and social welfare sectors is essential to effectively address and respond to school-based violence, and gender-based violence more specifically (Global Education Monitoring Report team and UNGEI, 2015). Addressing school violence also requires coordination among different actors, such as civil society organizations, advocacy groups, academic and research institutions, professional associations, the private sector, and the media (Global Education Monitoring Report team and UNGEI, 2015). At the school level, related programmes need to bring together headteachers, teachers, other staff, parents and students, local authorities, and professionals in other sectors (Attawell, 2019). Incorporating anti-bullying strategies within social programmes proved to be very effective in Latin American countries (Dunne et al., 2017). This kind of collaboration is also key to implementing holistic SEL programmes (UNESCO MGIEP, 2020).

Reporting mechanisms: Clear, safe, and accessible channels for reporting and monitoring school-based violence are key to reacting to the act of violence, assisting victims, and measuring the extent of those incidents (Cornu and Liu, 2019). Examples of reporting mechanisms include ‘telephone helplines, chat rooms and online reporting, “happiness and sadness” boxes, and school focal points such as teachers’, as well as using girls’ clubs as ‘safe spaces’ to report sexual violence (UNESCO, 2017: 45).

Whole-school approach: Anti-bullying programmes that work at multiple levels in the school (e.g. teacher training; school management, rules, and sanctions; mediation training; appropriate curriculum; information-sharing and engagement with parents/communities; counselling for victims, bystanders, and perpetrators) proved successful in developing countries (Global Education Monitoring Report team and UNGEI, 2015). A whole-school approach is also needed to address other types of school violence (Turner and Hares, 2021) and integrate SEL into school operations (UNESCO MGIEP, 2020). Strengthening school leadership and ensuring support from the provincial education authorities is important to make sure policies are implemented, codes of conduct enforced, reporting system monitored, and action taken as needed (Beadle and Bordoloi, 2019).  

Plans and policies

• South Africa : National School Safety Framework (2015)
• Seychelles : National Anti-Bullying Policy and Strategy for Primary, Secondary Schools and Professional Centre (2018)
• Malta : Trans, Gender Variant and Intersex Students in Schools Policy (2015)
• Guatemala : Protocolo de identificación, atención y referencia de casos de violencia dentro del sistema educativo nacional (2012)
• UNICEF Child-Friendly Schools Manual (2009)
• WHO School-based Violence Prevention: A Practical Handbook (2019)
• Safe to Learn Global Programmatic Framework and Benchmarking Tool (2021)
• UNESCO LGBTQI Inclusion Index (2018)
• UNESCO and UN Women Global Guidance on Addressing School-related Gender-based Violence (2016)
• Raising voices Good School Toolkit (2014)
• UNGEI A Whole School Approach to Prevent School-Related Gender-Based Violence: Minimum Standards and Monitoring Framework (2019)

Attawell, K. 2019. Behind the Numbers: Ending School Violence and Bullying. Paris: UNESCO.

Beadle, S.; Sujata, B. 2019. Ending School-related Gender-based Violence: A Series of Thematic Briefs. New York: United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI).

Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development; UNESCO. 2019. Child Online Safety: Minimizing the Risk of Violence, Abuse and Exploitation Online. Geneva: Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.

CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning). 2020. An Initial Guide to Leveraging the Power of Social and Emotional Learning. Chicago: CASEL.

Cornu, C.; Yongfeng, L. 2019. Ending School Bullying: Focus on the Arab States. Paris: UNESCO.

Dunne, M.; Delprato, M.; Akyeampong, K. 2017. ‘How can learning surveys inform policies to close the learning gap due to bullying?’ IIEP Learning Portal (blog), 9 October 2017.

EducationLinks. 2018. ‘ Social and emotional learning in crisis and conflict settings’. Education in Crisis and Conflict (blog), 22 October 2108.

Global Education Monitoring Report team. 2020. A New Generation: 25 Years of Efforts for Gender Equality in Education. Paris: UNESCO.

Global Education Monitoring Report team; UNGEI (United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative). 2015. School-related gender-based violence is preventing the achievement of quality education for all. Policy Paper 17. Paris: UNESCO.

Global Education Monitoring Report team; UNGEI (United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative). 2017. Let’s decide how to measure school violence. Policy Paper 29. Paris: UNESCO.

Greene, M.E.; Robles, O.; Stout, K.; Suvilaakso, T.; Sussman, A.; Mandhane, R. 2013. A Girl’s Right to Learn Without Fear: Working to End Gender-based Violence at School. Woking: Plan International.

INEE (Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies). 2016. INEE Background Paper on Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning for Children and Youth in Emergency Settings. New York: INEE.

INEE (Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies). 2019. Achieving SDG4 for Children and Youth Affected by Crisis. New York: INEE.

Mullis, I.V.S.; Martin, M.O.; Foy, P.; Kelly, D.L.; Fishbein, B. 2020. TIMSS 2019 International Results in Mathematics and Science. Boston: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2017. PISA 2015 Results (Volume III): Students’ Well-Being. Paris: PISA, OECD Publishing.

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2019. PISA 2018 Results (Volume III): What School Life Means for Students’ Lives. Paris: PISA, OECD Publishing.

RTI International. 2013.  Literature review on the intersection of safe learning environments and educational achievement. Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development.

Turner, E.; Hares, S. 2021. ‘Violence in schools is pervasive and teachers are often the perpetrators. Here are five ways to prevent it’.   CGD Blog (blog), 10 May.

UNESCO. 2016. Out in the Open: Education Sector Responses to Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO. 2017. School Violence and Bullying: Global status report. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO Office Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific. 2016. Happy schools! A framework for learner well-being in the Asia-Pacific. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO Office Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific. 2017. Promoting learner happiness and well-being. UNESCO Asia-Pacific Education Thematic Brief. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO; French Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports. 2020. International Conference on School Bullying: Recommendations by the Scientific Committee on preventing and addressing school bullying and cyberbullying. Paris: UNESCO.

UNESCO MGIEP (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development). 2020. Rethinking Learning: A Review of Social and Emotional Learning for Education Systems. New Delhi:UNESCO MGIEP.

UNESCO; UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). 2016. Global Guidance: School-related Gender-based Violence. Paris: UNESCO.

UNICEF; UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women); UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund); ILO (International Labour Organization); OSRSG/VAC (Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children). 2013. Breaking the Silence on Violence against Indigenous Girls, Adolescents and Young Women. New York: UNICEF.

Yorke, L. Rose, P.; Bayley, S.; Wole Meshesha, D.; Ramchandani, P. 2021. The Importance of Students’ Socio-emotional Learning, Mental Health, and Wellbeing in the Time of COVID-19’. Oxford: Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE).

Related information

• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
• UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP)
• Child-friendly school (CFS)
• Learning environment

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

School environments and elementary school children’s well-being in northwestern mexico.

• 1 Programs of Master and Doctorate in Psychology, University of Sonora, Hermosillo, Mexico
• 2 Programs of Master and Doctorate in Social Sciences, University of Sonora, Hermosillo, Mexico

School environment refers to the set of relationships that occur among members of a school community that are determined by structural, personal, and functional factors of the educational institution, which provide distinctiveness to schools. The school environment is an important factor when evaluating student well-being. Previous findings have shown that variables such as physical, academic, and social dimensions influence school environments. This research seeks to explain the relationship between school environment and the well-being of primary education students. To carry out this research, a total of 405 students from four public elementary schools in northwestern Mexico were selected to participate. The instrument used to measure the variables and the relationship of school environment and well-being is based on the three dimensions of school environment proposed by Kutsyuruba et al. (2015) : Physical, social, and academic. Statistical analyses were carried out to determine the reliability and validity of the measurement scales using SPSS V20 and EQS software. Confirmatory factor analysis models were tested to determine the construct validity of each scale; then, an analysis via structural equation modeling was made to form an explanatory model obtaining acceptable practical and statistical indicators. Among the relationships in this study, our research identified the variable of school environments as an outcome determined by physical, academic, and social factors. School environment and student well-being variables were also found to be correlated.

Introduction

The study of the physical, social, and academic (curricular) conditions of the environment and the administrative organization of schools have been related to school environments and the well-being of students ( Corral-Verdugo et al., 2015 ). Nowadays, it has become more common to find empirical studies that identify the impact of school environments on student well-being. For example, safe school environments and student well-being have been found to be significantly and strongly interrelated variables on research of various kinds of students’ needs ( Kutsyuruba et al., 2015 ).

Primarily, research of positive school environment is focused on physical conditions: density, privacy, activity areas, open spaces, and, even, green areas. Some of the most researched effects from physical elements have been the ones resulting from noise, lighting and colors, temperature and humidity, decoration, and furniture, since they contain properties that have effects on people’s behavior; nevertheless, despite having found evidence of these effects, the results are not considered entirely conclusive ( Olivos and Amérigo, 2010 ). The quality of these conditions in school infrastructure can have direct effects on the behavior and cognitive, social, and emotional development of children ( Prescott and David, 1976 ; Wohlwill and Heft, 1987 ; Moore et al., 2003 ). In other words, the school space is considered a didactic agent that helps to offer optimal physical conditions for the development of the teaching-learning process. Likewise, it allows for the creation of an adequate environment for the development of students’ abilities, fostering their autonomy as well as teacher motivation.

Romañá (1994) focused on the role that the environment takes as an object of attention for learning. There are three ideas about how it has been addressed: (a) conceiving the environment as an educator: the nature of physical elements of the environment as socializing agents themselves; (b) considering it as an educational object for the valuation and conservation of the environment, and (c) and conceiving it as an educational or didactic resource; in other words, as a pedagogical utility factor.

Olivos and Amérigo (2010) performed a historical review and background check on the study of the connection between environment and education and identified that it had been studied in the fields of pedagogy, where it had been called “environmental pedagogy” ( Göttler, 1955 ) or “mesological pedagogy” ( Zaniewski, 1952 ); and psychology, under the term “classroom ecology” ( Sommer, 1967 ; Weinstein, 1979 ). Other authors have also underlined how the emotional dimension is an important component in the development of evaluation competences, such as for example, the aesthetic evaluation experience, and we argue that this component could also be relevant for the evaluation of school environments (e.g., Mastandrea, 2014 ; Mastandrea and Crano, 2019 ).

At the end of the 20th century, environmental psychology focused its attention on the study of school environments, specifically on aspects of practical conditions such as ergonomics and architecture, considering particular physical aspects of the school environment and its role in the process of teaching learning and even associating it with academic performance ( Holahan, 1986 ; Gump, 1987 ; Bell et al., 1990 ; Gifford, 2007 ; Amedeo et al., 2008 ).

However, there are always challenges for the design and management of educational spaces and they overcome the traditional difficulties of improving the teaching-learning process in conflictful conditions resulting from social interaction within school environments. A wide range of studies has found a reduction of negative or violent behaviors that are usually present in schools are due to management changes in physical environments ( Bosworth et al., 2011 ; Steffgen et al., 2013 ; Cornell et al., 2015 ). Current trends in educational intervention consider the promotion of positive personal interactions as a priority and as a cause or consequence of harmonious activities of the school with its environment, putting integration into practice ( Corral-Verdugo et al., 2015 ).

It is in the second decade of the 21st century when special attention was paid to the study of school environments ( Bernardes and Vergara, 2017 ), school climate ( Wang and Degol, 2016 ; Maxwell et al., 2017 ) and its connection with student well-being ( Bird and Markle, 2012 ; Borkar, 2016 ).

Currently, research on physical aspects in school environments has gained attention as a result of the theoretical relevance of the human-environment link, the new conceptions about the importance of social interactions in the educational environment, and questions about the objectives of education in the modern world ( Aldridge and McChesney, 2018 ; Lundberg and Abdelzadeh, 2019 ).

In existing literature, this has been an extensively investigated subject in an attempt to depict a complete model of school environments. We have not only taken into consideration the contributions of Thapa et al. (2013) , who identify five dimensions that converge in security, social relations, teaching/learning, institutional environment (both physical and administrative), and process of school improvement; but also the ones from Bradshaw et al. (2014) , who suggested that there are three elements that affect the formation of safe and supportive school models, including the variables of commitment, safety, and environment. Both reflect the evolution of research in this area; and, despite their success in the identification of some relevant dimensions of school environment, they still suffer from a lack of variables to consider.

Particularly, as a basis for this study, we reference the contributions of Kutsyuruba et al. (2015) which, as a result from an exhaustive review of published empirical evidence, conclude in a common axis categorization of the school environment named “dimensions of the school climate” that consists of three main categories: (a) physical, refers to the condition of school facilities, the environmental quality of schools, and their relationship with the educational performance and behavior of students; (b) academic, where it is mentioned that the personal skills and characteristics of teachers serve as factors for the development of their students; and finally, (c) social, this specific category suggests that the quality of relationships between members of the school community is fundamental in the configuration of the school climate. These categories shape a conceptual framework that can be regarded as a multidimensional construction of the components and conditions of a positive or safe school environment ( Kutsyuruba et al., 2015 ).

Our study incorporates and integrates these three dimensions into a variable called school environment and evaluates its impact on student well-being. The participating population consists of children from fifth and sixth grade of primary education in Hermosillo, Mexico. Figure 1 shows the hypothetical model of variable correlations under study, where we propose that the physical dimension comprises the classroom, playground, and library elements; that the academic dimension consists of variables related to students, teaching methodology, didactic strategies, and evaluation; and the social dimension is constituted by justice, sustainability, and social behavior.

Figure 1. Hypothetic model of the relationship between school environment and well-being.

Conceptualization of Categories in the Study

School environment.

Space for the delivery of materials that correspond to the areas of basic knowledge where students and teachers interact with furniture that enables individual or group work. Recently it has been mentioned that specific characteristics of the classroom’s physical environment are related to student satisfaction, attitudes, and evaluation of the quality of the course ( Fraser, 2015 ; Han et al., 2019 ).

School yard

Spaces in which students perform educational, civic, recreational, and food-related activities. In a recent study, Dilbil and Basaran (2017) argue that playgrounds positively affected cognitive development and levels of attachment of children to school.

Space that is well-conditioned to read, learn, and consult a bibliographic collection belonging to the school community where students can interact and work. Schultz-Jones (2011) conducted a study to explain how an evaluation of the learning environment of the school library can be used to demonstrate a positive impact on student performance.

Student relationship

In the educational context, the teacher–student relationship is one of the most outstanding academic interactions at the core of the teaching-learning process. Even though this interaction is composed by many other elements, this relationship is the one that plays the most important role when it comes to meeting educational objectives ( Bertoglia, 2008 ). Affective teacher–student communication and interaction plays an important role in building a teacher–student support relationship and a positive classroom environment ( Roorda et al., 2011 ; Poulou, 2014 ).

Teaching methods

The didactic methods are part of the methodological aptitudes that a trainer must have. This means that these types of methods will influence the degree of intervention of the trainer on the student ( Calvo, 2006 ). Teachers’ classroom management practices have a direct impact on the probability of success of their students ( Gage et al., 2018 ). Classroom management and methods are a major challenge for teachers and school administrators, often qualified as the main area of concern for teachers and the most common reason why many choose to leave their profession. Recently, academic research on emotional health, especially during the early years of childhood, has had a greater interest in social and emotional learning and its relationship with the improvement of student behavior ( Caldarella et al., 2012 ).

For Bordas and Cabrera (2001) , an evaluation system within the classroom will be convenient as long as the students feel like active agents; learn to value their actions and learning, know and understand the curricular objectives; as well as understand the aspects of evaluation in certain tasks. Since the data that teachers receive from their evaluation serve as references for the future, it is necessary to think more deeply about the content of these evaluations, in addition to how we can create conditions for teachers to use this evaluation to inform their instructional methods ( Datnow and Hubbard, 2015 ).

Teaching strategies

The term strategy implies reflexive planning to do something by applying any general model used in the classroom ( Orlich et al., 2012 ). Previous studies have concluded that teachers in primary education use different teaching strategies as students gain knowledge through experience, participation in education, express their opinion, and solve problems ( Hus and Grmek, 2011 ).

Konow (2003) refers to justice as a virtue that is attached to what is morally correct, concerning the ethics, rationality, natural law, equity, or religion in which they base their foundations.

Sustainability

Regarding sustainability, it is important to mention that there are two studies that have prioritized the analysis of sustainable or environmental education. These are “Literature on Environmental Education” ( De Castro, 2010 ) and “Education for Sustainability” by Corral (2010) which required this component to focus more on environmental protection behaviors, forgetting the point that students can obtain various types of benefits when practicing sustainable behaviors ( Corral-Verdugo et al., 2015 ).

Social coexistence

Refers to the way students relate with others and how those relationships have important consequences in his/her personal development. Ponferrada-Arteaga and Carrasco-Pons (2010) explain that the emotional expectations that students have about their own school and the degree of recognition and legitimization of the differences manifested by the practices of the school institution influence how students deal with each other at school. A study made by Tian et al. (2016) shows that social support experienced in school is significantly related to subjective well-being.

Well-being is often interpreted as growth and human satisfaction; it is deeply influenced by the surrounding contexts of people’s lives and, as such, the opportunities for self-realization ( Ryff and Singer, 2008 ). Well-being incorporates the challenges that individuals face in their attempts to fully function and realize their potential ( Keyes, 2006 ; Medina-Calvillo et al., 2013 ).

One of the reasons why this topic was chosen is because literature that analyzes the conditions of school environments at the basic level requires empiric evidence that proves its impact in children well-being.

Materials and Methods

The main objective of the study was to test a model where the variable “school environment” is determined by physical, academic, and social dimensions. Our variables were “school environment” and “well-being.” The aim of the study focused on a correlational methodology with the purpose of measuring the degree of relationship between the variables mentioned above ( Sampieri et al., 1998 ). It also has a non-experimental design, since the phenomenon was experienced and measured as it occurred in its natural context. We employed an instrument consisting of different scales that evaluate each of the variables and constructions of the model ( Supplementary Data Sheet 1 ).

Participants

Four primary schools at the primary level were evaluated, two of them public and two private, all in the city of Hermosillo, Mexico. A total of 405 students were surveyed, 212 females and 193 males, aged between 10 and 12. At the time of the study, the students were in the fifth and sixth grade of primary school.

Measurements

After deciding on what type of data needed to be collected, the instrument chosen was a survey that consisted of four variables divided in 11 subscales for a total of 63 items. In addition, the survey also included a brief questionnaire inquiring about certain demographic variables related to gender, grade, age, and school.

Physical Dimension

This scale assessed the educational spaces such as the classroom, the school yards, and the library. It comprised 15 items and was a semantic differential type scale, where two opposing adjectives are presented and the response is selected from six intermediate values.

Academic Dimension

A 24-item scale divided into four subscales: teacher’s relationship with students, teaching methodology, evaluation, and teaching strategies. All subscales were structured with Likert questions, where the response options were “never,” “almost never,” “almost always,” and “always.” In relationship with other students, they were presented with a scale consisting of eight items; the didactic methodology scale has 10 items; the evaluation scale with four items; and, finally, the scale of teaching strategies which includes four items.

Social Dimension

Contained three subscales with 11 items, the first one, referring to justice, included four semantic differential type items. The next section, sustainability, was composed of four items also elaborated in Likert scales with four response options going from “never” to “always.” Finally, the social coexistence scale ( Fraijo-Sing et al., 2014 ) evaluated three groups of social interaction, two corresponding to school and one from home, was a Likert scale about satisfaction with five response options ranging from “very unsatisfied” to “very satisfied.”

An adaptation for children of the Van Dierendonck (2004) version of Ryff’s (1989) psychological well-being scale (psychological well-being scales, SPWB), from which 13 items were selected, corresponding to the categories of self-acceptance, personal growth, and purpose with life.

Except for the social coexistence and well-being scale, the rest were specifically developed for the purpose of this study and were tested in a regional context (Northern Mexico).

First, a non-random sample was selected; that is, there was a process by which data were extracted to be analyzed, where the universe consists of elementary school students from the city of Hermosillo, Mexico. In the next phase, there was a request for authorization from the directors of the educational institutions to proceed with the application of the instrument. This was carried out in a period of 2 weeks, when students were surveyed in groups in their respective classrooms, without teacher intervention but with their approval.

It is important to emphasize that this instrument was tested as reliable and valid by comparing the magnitude of the different variables and indicators. Once the surveys were answered and the numerical valuations of variables were made, we obtained ranges of values for the responses, as well as the different trends obtained. Through this data analysis, we transformed the data into information that was used to answer our research questions by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v21.0). Using this, we analyzed the psychometric properties and construct validity through exploratory factor analysis, reliability through Cronbach’s alpha, analysis of descriptive data of each of the scales, and correlation coefficients between the scales ( Supplementary Table 1 ).

Subsequently, we tested the structural model using the statistical program EQS. First, we analyzed the measurement models of each of the variables. Then, we performed a structural model analysis to test the model of school environments using procedures in first instance plot development (sets of two variables). Likewise, first and second order variables were formed.

Table 1 shows the correlation matrix of the measured variables of scholar environment and their internal consistencies. The Cronbach’s alpha values in all used scales turned out to be appropriate, indicating an acceptable reliability coefficient of the instruments. Overall, the correlations go from moderate, but statistically significant, to strongly correlated.

Table 1. Univariate statistics and their relationship to school environment and well-being.

Structural Model

Figure 2 shows the structural model that illustrates the relationship between the variables “school environment” (composed of physical, academic, and social factors) and “well-being.” In reference to model fitting and its interpretation, researchers use numerous goodness-of-fit indicators to assess a model. Some common fit indexes are the normed fit index (NFI), non-normed fit index (NNFI), and comparative fit index (CFI) ( Hu and Bentler, 1999 ). Absolute fit indexes were also employed to evaluate the degree to which the model proposed and how the actual data variance–covariance matrices compare. Some absolute fit indexes include the chi-square statistic and the standardized root-mean-square residual ( Bentler, 1995 ). We can verify that the indicators of goodness of statistical adjustment (X 2 = 570.99, 307 df, p = 0.000) were not significant, so there are no apparent reasons, in mathematical matter ( Corral-Verdugo, 1995 ), to discard this model and the relationships that are illustrated in it. On the other hand, it should also be noted that the goodness of fit indexes adjustments (BBNFI = 0.90, BBNNFI = 0.91, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04.) show that the structural model is supported by the amount of data that was presented in this sample, since all values are equal to or greater than 0.90 ( Bentler, 1990 ).

Figure 2. Structural model of the relationship between school environment and well-being. Goodness of fit: X 2 = 570.99 (307 df ), p = 0.000, BBNFI = 0.90, BBNNFI = 0.91, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04. Well-being R 2 = 0.35.

Our research was presented with the chance to provide additional empirical evidence to the conclusions of the work of Kutsyuruba et al. (2015) , who determined integrative categories associated with studies on school climate and proposed a three-dimensional model: physical, academic, and social. Other studies have offered a conceptual framework derived from a multidimensional construction of components and conditions of a positive school environment ( Wang and Degol, 2016 ). In addition to confirming the relevance of this theoretical–conceptual approach, we recognized a causal relationship between the school environment and the well-being of elementary education students who participated in the study ( Aldridge and McChesney, 2018 ).

The hypothetical model that guided this research was confirmed by the structural model’s second order factor called “school environment” which was shaped by the three dimensions suggested by Kutsyuruba et al. (2015) : physical, academic, and social. In turn, the “school environment” had an effect on the “well-being” variable ( Ryff and Singer, 2008 ), which also allowed us to verify the relevance of the suggestions made by Corral-Verdugo et al. (2015) in their review and conceptualization of a “positive school.”

Hypothesized first-order factors were also conformed by their respective measures and by the nesting of their variables. Confirming these relationships leads us to conclude that the present estimation and evaluation of the school environment dimension model was measured in a valid and pertinent manner for this construct. Results obtained by this model support the ideas of the three-dimensional construct of Kutsyuruba et al. (2015) and confirm this theoretical model in the reality of children of fifth and sixth grade of basic education in Hermosillo, Mexico.

Such remarks allow for some reassurance that we have established some of the variables that could influence a positive school climate ( Bosworth et al., 2011 ; Aldridge and McChesney, 2018 ). In the three dimensions proposed by the model, we can also identify the actions required in order to impact on well-being and its relationship with the academic achievement of the students ( Maxwell et al., 2017 ), their ways of relating to teachers ( Roorda et al., 2011 ), and the relationships they establish with peers and others in their environment ( Tian et al., 2016 ).

In other regards, this work suffers from limitations notably related to methodological aspects and the means used to collect data. Even when speaking about the validity of the instruments and statistical procedures that account for their reliability, the surveys used for this analysis were specifically developed for the purpose of this study on a non-random sample, which may compromise the generalizability of our findings, despite obtaining acceptable goodness of fit indexes. Therefore, we recommend future research should therefore seek to address this issue by devising a specific method for gathering data on random samples by the means of surveys.

A key strength of this research lies within the integration of the three aspects considered in our model. Some studies have discussed variables related to well-being. For instance, how the physical design of space affects learning and the well-being of children ( Martin, 2016 ); how teacher support and the ways it is perceived by students impacts well-being ( Reddy et al., 2003 ); and also, the way social relationships with companions and peers may serve as a protective factor for well-being ( Lindberg and Swanberg, 2006 ). However, gathering all of these variables into a single model can be considered to be a significant step forward in the study of student well-being, as well as which variables should be considered in order to design and promote the implementation of programs concerning well-being in school environments.

The posture of a school environment factor constituted by physical, social, and academic components was verified and adequately supported by the data gathered in our study and the structural model obtained in Figure 2 . The school environment factor also correlated significantly with a measure of well-being as proposed by our hypothetic model. Moreover, our measure of school environment was found to be a valid one given regarding internal consistency where all factors have a reasonable level of reliability; we can see that all the variables show acceptable correlation values as we also consider the goodness of fit indexes obtained.

Our model confirmed that, in order to promote subjective well-being, schools must facilitate the optimal development of people by accepting that all students possess differentiated strengths, recognize its students’ abilities, and offer school environments that imply positivity in aspects concerning the physical, social, and didactic spheres of school life. Insights into these aspects are expected to contribute to a better understanding of how they correspond harmoniously with the abilities and expectations of the students ( Corral-Verdugo et al., 2015 ; Maxwell et al., 2017 ). The potential implementation of these findings has been widely described in literature. A school should aim its goals toward the promotion of the subjective well-being of its students, without neglecting the purposes of developing academic and cognitive skills ( Huebner et al., 2009 ).

In order to design an accurate system, knowledge of the factors that contribute to well-being in school environments is necessary. The application of these research findings should be focused on the advocacy of curricula that embodies these factors, in such a manner that may comprise better practices in school environments ( Bird and Markle, 2012 ). A more interesting and practical scenario would be if findings such as the ones found in this study could be oriented toward the outlining or amelioration of public education programs dedicated to student’s prosperity, learning, and well-being.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Comité de ética en Investigación de la Universidad de Sonora. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.

Author Contributions

CT-F and BF-S contributed by writing, reviewing, and editing. CT-F and VC-V contributed with conceptualization and design of this study. GG-T ran formal analysis and organized databases. CT-F contributed by supervising this study and its methodological tasks (methodology) were designed by CT-F and BF-S. GG-T and MM-B provided the writing of the original draft. All authors contributed to manuscript revision and read and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00510/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords : school environment, well-being, positive school, children, elementary school

Citation: Tapia-Fonllem C, Fraijo-Sing B, Corral-Verdugo V, Garza-Terán G and Moreno-Barahona M (2020) School Environments and Elementary School Children’s Well-Being in Northwestern Mexico. Front. Psychol. 11:510. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00510

Received: 22 November 2019; Accepted: 03 March 2020; Published: 19 March 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Tapia-Fonllem, Fraijo-Sing, Corral-Verdugo, Garza-Terán and Moreno-Barahona. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: César Tapia-Fonllem, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

How to Create a Positive School Climate

If you’re a school leader, you have problems to solve: bullying, teacher burnout, disengaged students, casual vandalism and litter, and cultural and socio-economic differences, among others. Big issues that affect a lot of people.

Researchers have found that a positive school climate can help solve a lot of those problems. Studies find that it decreases absenteeism, suspensions, substance abuse, and bullying, and increases students’ academic achievement, motivation to learn, and psychological well-being. It can even mitigate the negative effects of self-criticism and socioeconomic status on academic success. In addition, working in this kind of climate lessens teacher burnout while increasing retention. All really good stuff!

But here’s the catch: Creating a positive school climate is really, really hard to do, as any principal will tell you. People have minds of their own, and you can’t make them feel peppy and optimistic on command. It takes elbow grease and much care to implement, simply because human motivations and needs are so complex. Here are some research-tested tips to get you started.

What does it look like?

Let’s take a moment to paint a picture of positive school climate. When you walk onto a school campus, you can immediately get a sense of the school climate by watching the interactions between people and noticing the school’s physical environment. 

Do the teachers, students, and school leaders seem happy to be there and are they treating each other with respect? Is the school clean and orderly? Are the bulletin board displays sending out positive messages? Are students engaged in their learning?

In 2007, the National School Climate Council spelled out specific criteria for what defines a positive school climate, including:

• Norms, values, and expectations that support social, emotional, and physical safety.
• People are engaged and respected.
• Students, families, and educators work together to develop and live a shared school vision.
• Educators model and nurture attitudes that emphasize the benefits gained from learning.
• Each person contributes to the operations of the school and the care of the physical environment.

So while creating a positive school climate is not easy, it’s also not impossible.

Three steps to a positive climate

When building a positive school climate, it’s important to remember that there is no magic formula—much will depend on the leaders’ values and vision and how much everyone else gets on board with those things.

It starts with trust , which researchers say is an essential prerequisite to a more positive climate. The following steps are in part designed to build trust, mainly by giving teachers, staff, and students some say in the process—and leaders who guide the process must never miss an opportunity to prove themselves trustworthy and to facilitate trust-building between stakeholders.

Here are some research-based suggestions for school leaders on how to start cultivating a positive school climate:

1) Assess the current climate. You have to know where you’re starting from in order to know where to go. And for those on your staff who might be less-than-enthusiastic about creating a positive school climate, asking them about their current experience will help get them on board because they’ll feel like their voice is being heard. Also be sure to include everyone’s voices: teachers, other school staff, students, parents—and your own.

There are a number of ways to assess your school climate. The Safe and Supportive Schools website provides a list of validated survey instruments —some of which are free. However, I would caution against relying on just a survey.

According to Edgar Schein , one of the foremost organizational psychology experts, a survey will not reveal people’s underlying assumptions and beliefs which have a profound effect on the school climate—and those are what you need to understand in order to effect real change. On surveys, people can interpret the questions differently. For example, the statement, “I believe this school is headed in the right direction” could be interpreted in a myriad of ways. Also, it is very difficult to know which questions to ask on a survey and how deeply a person feels about a particular area.

Schein suggests meeting in small groups to examine together the school’s climate. He outlines a simple method in his book The Corporate Culture Survival Guide that is easily adaptable to schools. (Note: researchers consider climate and culture to be two different constructs. However, the National School Climate Council’s definition above combines the two.)

Individual interviews are also another way to get a sense of the school climate, and should be conducted by someone outside the school to ensure honesty and impartiality, e.g., a consultant or local grad student in organizational psychology.

2) Create a shared vision—but start with personal visions. Research suggests that bringing everyone together to create a shared vision of the kind of climate they want increases the likelihood that the vision will actually be carried out. But according to Peter Senge , director of the Society for Organizational Learning that originated at MIT, a shared vision must emerge from our personal visions—otherwise people won’t be committed to the shared vision.

Senge defines personal vision as “a specific destination, a picture of a desired future” that is rooted in a person’s values, concerns, and aspirations. For example, part of my personal vision is wanting schools to be socially and emotionally healthy places for everyone which comes from my deeply held belief that human beings thrive in positive environments.

So before creating a shared vision together, ask everyone to write down their personal vision. You might even have them read the section on personal vision in Senge’s book, The Fifth Discipline . To ensure student participation, have teachers guide students through this process.

When you’re ready to create a shared vision, it’s important to create a safe space where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas. I highly recommend using a positive approach to discussion such as World Café or Appreciative Inquiry . That way, positive emotions are generated, which will help to cultivate trust amongst group members and also make everyone’s thinking more creative and flexible. Be sure to include the students in whatever way possible.

3) Work together to carry out the shared vision—and make it fun! Creating a positive school climate is an ongoing process that never really ends, but it’s a joyful one. However, if you find your school off to a slow start, you might try one of these simple motivating ideas that will give a quick boost of positive emotions:

• “ Behind Your Back .” This is a fun twist on gossiping that can easily be done at the start of class or before a staff meeting. One participant at the Greater Good Summer Institute for Educators told us that when her school did it at a staff meeting, some long-held grudges between staff members were healed.
• Gratitude Board. Provide places in the hallways and the teachers’ lounge where people can post notes expressing their gratitude for each others’ actions. Gratitude has the wonderful effect of helping us feel more connected to one another and also gives us a boost in our own self-worth—both important aspects of a positive school climate.

While it may seem like a lot of work, the tremendous benefits of a positive school climate far out-weigh the time and effort required. And, while researchers haven’t measured it yet, I would guess that a positive school climate can also bring the joy and fun back into teaching and learning. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a school like that?

Throughout this next school year, watch for articles on more specific, research-based ideas for building a positive school climate.

About the Author

Vicki Zakrzewski

Vicki Zakrzewski, Ph.D. , is the education director of the Greater Good Science Center.

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School Literacy Environment for Younger Students Essay

Classroom environments and literacy components, similarities and differences, component changes and conclusions.

It should be noted that the classroom environment is one of the critical aspects of early childhood development. In terms of creating a literacy environment, it is worthy of mentioning that students of these age groups are intensely responsive to the physical settings in which they can interact with objects using their senses and learning mechanisms. Therefore, educators should place particular emphasis on the way they organize the environment for their students (DeBruin-Parecki & Slutzky, 2016). Importantly, the objects in class should be not only attractive to the eye but also be functional. Also, the educator’s interaction with the classroom setting and students is equally significant in developing literacy. The purpose of this paper is to create and analyze classroom environments for Birth to Pre-K and K to Grade 3 children.

For Birth to Pre-K group, the classroom environment will be organized to engage students in physical, emotional, and cognitive activities. It will include intentional and experiential learning that is particularly important for children of this age. The crucial element will be the classroom’s organization, schedule, furniture, and accessories. Notably, the environment will include a playground and outdoor spaces (Wang, 2014). The area will have distinct learning centers and an area where students can be assembled to provide group instruction. In K to Grade 3, the environment will include multiple subject areas with well-defined activities spaces. Importantly, in this group, gross motor movement activities will be accompanied by cooperative work and entertainment; therefore, enough walking space will be provided.

The literacy components for Birth to Pre-K will include content posters, labels, displays of student works, and pictures. K to Grade 3 classroom environment will be expanded to include displays of books and other graphic and visual representations and word/concept walls (Wang, 2014). In both age groups, the educator will promote literacy exploration through games, physical activities, and student interactions. Importantly, in the first group, students will work with peers and with the teacher while, in the latter group, one-to-one and individual work will be practiced to a greater degree. In Birth to Pre-K, the emphasis will be made on oral language through exposure to experiential learning and the use of visuals as well as alphabetic code learning through the reference to word walls and content posters (DeBruin-Parecki & Slutzky, 2016). In K to Grade 3, the development of literacy will aim at print knowledge and use.

The main similarity in literacy components for the two groups will be the exposure to both oral and written language. Therefore, the classroom environment will include materials for listening/reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. The accessibility and use of print will enable the teacher to develop in children the comprehension of phonemes and graph-morpheme patterns (Woolley, 2014). Nevertheless, in K to Grade 3, students will be actively exposed to written/print language such as storybooks and so on. Through the interaction with texts, children will enhance their reading skills, comprehend the concepts of print, and practice their shared and guided reading (DeBruin-Parecki & Slutzky, 2016). It should be emphasized that in both cases, to enhance literacy, children should be able to explore the environment individually and together with peers relying on teacher instruction. Therefore, the setting will include plenty of walking space for children to interact with literacy materials.

In terms of component changes, in Birth to Pre-K, they will include phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary development. In K to Grade 3, the students will be driven towards reading fluency and reading comprehension strategies (Woolley, 2014). In the first case, alphabet and phonics instruction will be significant to support a child’s understanding and memorizing. Different visual aids such as pictures, schemes, and graphic representations will be placed around the class area. In the second case, the components will be more advanced to expose children to books and study texts for guided reading so that children can advance from decoding words to deep text comprehension. Thus, following these strategies, students will be able to enhance their literacy levels in a gradual but comprehensive manner.

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Healthy and Supportive School Environments

Time spent at school allows children to engage with peers and adults and develop skills to enhance their relationship experiences. Schools that have a clean and pleasant physical environment helps set the stage for positive, respectful relationships.

To create schools that support student health and learning, school leaders can work towards a healthy and supportive school environment. 1

A healthy and supportive school environment helps children and adolescents develop the skills they need to recognize and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, appreciate the perspectives of others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

When school staff and families communicate, student health and learning can improve. Students can learn better in multiple settings as a result of these relationships—at home, in school, in out-of-school programs, and in the community.

Learn strategies to create a healthy and supportive school environment.

Learn ways to support skills for social and emotional development at home and at school.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Importance of Education — Importance of School Environment in Light of Sustainable Development Goals

Importance of School Environment in Light of Sustainable Development Goals

• Categories: College Goals Importance of Education

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Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 1702 | Pages: 4 | 9 min read

Table of contents

School environment, india and transformation in education, discussion and implication.

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The Importance of Positive School Environments

Giving compass' take:.

• Amelia Harper explains the benefits of positive school cultures: teachers report less stress and students take more ownership of their work.
• What role can you play in supporting efforts to improve school culture?
• Learn about  social and emotional learning .

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Tracey Smith, principal of Brookwood Elementary School in Georgia, shared with eSchool News her strategies for helping teachers take ownership of their work and helping students take control of their learning by creating a more positive learning culture.

Working to create a more positive school culture may seem like a waste of time to some school administrators who face a host of more pressing issues at school. However, creating a happier place for people to work and learn can help prevent some of the more pressing issues from occurring in the first place. In fact, some states see school climate as such an important matter that they have included school climate surveys in their ESSA plans.

A positive school atmosphere encourages student attendance, a factor that helps cure many school woes. It also helps reduce stress in teachers and students and boosts a more positive mindset in everyone involved. Some studies even suggest that school climate is a key factor in student achievement and teacher retention.

Read the full article about the importance of school environments by Amelia Harper at Education Dive.

More Articles

Improvements in school culture can address student absenteeism, education dive, apr 29, 2023, student-led school culture change, sep 2, 2022.

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• Environment Essay

Essay on Understanding and Nurturing Our Environment

The environment is everything that surrounds us – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil beneath our feet, and the diverse flora and fauna that inhabit our planet. It's not just a backdrop to our lives; it's the very essence of our existence. In this essay, we'll explore the importance of our environment, the challenges it faces, and what we can do to ensure a sustainable and thriving world for generations to come.

Our environment is a complex and interconnected web of life. Every living organism, from the tiniest microbe to the largest mammal, plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance of ecosystems. This delicate balance ensures the survival of species, including humans. For instance, bees pollinate plants, which produce the oxygen we breathe. Nature is a masterpiece that has evolved over millions of years, and we are just one small part of this intricate tapestry.

Importance of Environment  

The environment is crucial for keeping living things healthy.

It helps balance ecosystems.

The environment provides everything necessary for humans, like food, shelter, and air.

It's also a source of natural beauty that is essential for our physical and mental health.

The Threats to Our Environment:

Unfortunately, our actions have disrupted this delicate balance. The rapid industrialization, deforestation, pollution, and over-exploitation of natural resources have led to severe environmental degradation. Climate change, driven by the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, is altering weather patterns, causing extreme events like floods, droughts, and storms. The loss of biodiversity is another alarming concern – species are disappearing at an unprecedented rate due to habitat destruction and pollution.

Impact of Human Activities on the Environment

Human activities like pollution, deforestation, and waste disposal are causing environmental problems like acid rain, climate change, and global warming. The environment has living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components. Biotic components include plants, animals, and microorganisms, while abiotic components include things like temperature, light, and soil.

In the living environment, there are producers (like plants), consumers (like animals), and decomposers (like bacteria). Producers use sunlight to make energy, forming the base of the food web. Consumers get their energy by eating other organisms, creating a chain of energy transfer. Decomposers break down waste and dead organisms, recycling nutrients in the soil.

The non-living environment includes climatic factors (like rain and temperature) and edaphic factors (like soil and minerals). Climatic factors affect the water cycle, while edaphic factors provide nutrients and a place for organisms to grow.

The environment includes everything from the air we breathe to the ecosystems we live in. It's crucial to keep it clean for a healthy life. All components of the environment are affected by its condition, so a clean environment is essential for a healthy ecosystem.

Sustainable Practices:

Adopting sustainable practices is a key step towards mitigating environmental degradation. This includes reducing our carbon footprint by using renewable energy, practicing responsible consumption, and minimizing waste. Conservation of natural resources, such as water and forests, is essential. Supporting local and global initiatives that aim to protect the environment, like reforestation projects and wildlife conservation efforts, can make a significant impact.

Education and Awareness:

Creating a sustainable future requires a collective effort, and education is a powerful tool in this regard. Raising awareness about environmental issues, the consequences of our actions, and the importance of conservation is crucial. Education empowers individuals to make informed choices and encourages sustainable practices at both personal and community levels.

Why is a Clean Environment Necessary?

To have a happy and thriving community and country, we really need a clean and safe environment. It's like the basic necessity for life on Earth. Let me break down why having a clean environment is so crucial.

First off, any living thing—whether it's plants, animals, or people—can't survive in a dirty environment. We all need a good and healthy place to live. When things get polluted, it messes up the balance of nature and can even cause diseases. If we keep using up our natural resources too quickly, life on Earth becomes a real struggle.

So, what's causing all this environmental trouble? Well, one big reason is that there are just so many people around, and we're using up a lot of stuff like land, food, water, air, and even fossil fuels and minerals. Cutting down a bunch of trees (we call it deforestation) is also a big problem because it messes up the whole ecosystem.

Then there's pollution—air, water, and soil pollution. It's like throwing a wrench into the gears of nature, making everything go wonky. And you've probably heard about things like the ozone layer getting thinner, global warming, weird weather, and glaciers melting. These are all signs that our environment is in trouble.

But don't worry, we can do things to make it better:

Plant more trees—they're like nature's superheroes, helping balance everything out.

Follow the 3 R's: Reuse stuff, reduce waste, and recycle. It's like giving our planet a high-five.

Ditch the plastic bags—they're not great for our landscapes.

Think about how many people there are and try to slow down the population growth.

By doing these things, we're basically giving our planet a little TLC (tender loving care), and that's how we can keep our environment clean and healthy for everyone.

Policy and Regulation:

Governments and institutions play a vital role in shaping environmental policies and regulations. Strong and enforceable laws are essential to curb activities that harm the environment. This includes regulations on emissions, waste disposal, and protection of natural habitats. International cooperation is also crucial to address global environmental challenges, as issues like climate change know no borders.

The Role of Technology:

Technology can be a double-edged sword in environmental conservation. While some technological advancements contribute to environmental degradation, others offer solutions. Innovative technologies in renewable energy, waste management, and sustainable agriculture can significantly reduce our impact on the environment. Embracing and investing in eco-friendly technologies is a step towards a greener and more sustainable future.

Conclusion:

Our environment is not just a collection of trees, rivers, and animals; it's the foundation of our existence. Understanding the interconnectedness of all living things and recognizing our responsibility as stewards of the Earth is essential. By adopting sustainable practices, fostering education and awareness, implementing effective policies, and embracing eco-friendly technologies, we can work towards healing our planet. The choices we make today will determine the world we leave for future generations – a world that can either flourish in its natural beauty or struggle under the weight of environmental degradation. It's our collective responsibility to ensure that it's the former.

FAQs on Environment Essay

1. What is the Environment?

The environment constitutes the entire ecosystem that includes plants, animals and microorganisms, sunlight, air, rain, temperature, humidity, and other climatic factors. It is basically the surroundings where we live. The environment regulates the life of all living beings on Earth.

2. What are the Three Kinds of Environments?

Biotic Environment: It includes all biotic factors or living forms like plants, animals, and microorganisms.

Abiotic Environment: It includes non-living factors like temperature, light, rainfall, soil, minerals, etc. It comprises the atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere.

Built Environment: It includes buildings, streets, houses, industries, etc. 

3. What are the Major Factors that Lead to the Degradation of the Environment?

The factors that lead to the degradation of the environment are:

The rapid increase in the population.

Growth of industrialization and urbanization.

Deforestation is making the soil infertile (soil that provides nutrients and home to millions of organisms).

Over-consumption of natural resources.

Ozone depletion, global warming, and the greenhouse effect.

4. How do we Save Our Environment?

We must save our environment by maintaining a balanced and healthy ecosystem. We should plant more trees. We should reduce our consumption and reuse and recycle stuff. We should check on the increase in population. We should scarcely use our natural and precious resources. Industries and factories should take precautionary measures before dumping their wastes into the water bodies.

5. How can we protect Mother Earth?

Ways to save Mother Earth include planting more and more trees, using renewable sources of energy, reducing the wastage of water, saving electricity, reducing the use of plastic, conservation of non-renewable resources, conserving the different flora and faunas, taking steps to reduce pollution, etc.

6. What are some ways that humans impact their environment?

Humans have influenced the physical environment in many ways like overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have generated climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. These negative impacts can affect human behavior and can prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water.  

7. Why is the environment of social importance?

Human beings are social animals by nature. They spend a good amount of time in social environments. Their responsibility towards the environment is certainly important because these social environments might support human beings in both personal development goals as well as career development goals.

Environment Essay In English For School Students

Everything that lives and exists on Earth is considered part of the environment, whether it resides on land or in water. Explore more about it with the environment essay provided here.

November 19, 2023

Table of Contents

Environment Essay: Ever think about how everything around us, like the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the trees and animals, all work together to make life awesome? Well, sometimes, we’re not taking very good care of our planet, and that’s causing problems like pollution and climate change. So, these essays are like cool guides to help us understand what’s going on. We’ll talk about things like planting trees, using less energy, and why it’s super important for all of us to take care of our planet together. Let’s learn, have fun, and make our world a better place.

Long and Short Environment Essay in English

A Clean environment is essential for a peaceful and healthful life. Unfortunately, our surroundings are progressively becoming polluted due to human negligence. This is a matter that everyone, especially our children, should be aware of. The ensuing essays on the environment are crafted with simple language to assist kids and children in completing their school projects or essay writing competitions. The goal is to make the content easily understandable, fostering awareness and understanding of environmental issues among children.

Environment Essay in 100 words

The surroundings we inhabit encompass everything, from living organisms to non-living elements. This environment, vital for sustaining life on Earth, furnishes the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we consume. It is also a nurturing ground for a rich variety of plant and animal species. Unfortunately, human actions have caused environmental deterioration, marked by issues such as pollution and deforestation. Taking on the responsibility to foster a sustainable environment is imperative for the well-being of our planet and the prosperity of generations to come. It is to honour, adopt and integrate sustainable practices into our daily lives. 

Environment Essay 150 words

Below is an Environment Essay in 150 words.

The environment includes the backdrop of our living space, comprising the air, water, soil, plants, and animals. It is a complex web of interconnected ecosystems that support life on Earth. Unfortunately, human activities such as industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have taken a toll on the environment. The increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contribute to climate change, affecting weather patterns and causing global warming.

Conserving the environment is crucial for the well-being of present and future generations. We must promote sustainable practices, reduce our carbon footprint, and protect biodiversity. Planting trees, reducing waste, and using renewable energy sources are simple steps we can take to contribute to a healthier environment.We should all contribute to the well-being of the planet by making decisions that promote its health.We can do this by using things that don’t harm the environment and by being mindful of how we live each day. 

Environment Essay 200 words

The environment is a delicate balance of various elements that sustain life on Earth. It includes the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. These components work together to create a suitable habitat for a diverse range of organisms. However, human activities have disrupted this balance, leading to environmental problems such as pollution, deforestation, and climate change.

Pollution is a major threat to the environment. Air pollution, caused by the release of harmful gases and particles into the atmosphere, affects the quality of the air we breathe. Water pollution, resulting from the discharge of pollutants into water bodies, poses a threat to aquatic life and human health. Soil pollution, caused by the accumulation of toxic substances in the soil, affects plant growth and can contaminate the food we eat.

Deforestation, the clearing of forests for agriculture and urbanization, contributes to habitat loss and the decline of biodiversity. Climate change, driven by the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, leads to rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and disruptions in ecosystems.

To address these challenges, it is essential for individuals and communities to adopt sustainable practices. This includes reducing the use of fossil fuels, conserving water, practicing responsible waste management, and supporting conservation efforts.

Environment Essay 250 words

Below is an Environment Essay in 250 words.

The environment is a complex and interconnected system that sustains life on Earth. It encompasses the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. Each of these components plays a crucial role in maintaining the delicate balance that allows diverse forms of life to thrive.

The atmosphere, composed of gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, creates a protective layer around the Earth. However, human activities, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This leads to the enhanced greenhouse effect, trapping heat and causing a rise in global temperatures. The consequences of climate change include melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and more frequent and severe weather events.

The hydrosphere includes all water bodies on Earth, from oceans and rivers to lakes and groundwater. Water pollution, primarily caused by industrial discharge, agricultural runoff, and improper waste disposal, threatens the health of aquatic ecosystems and the availability of clean water for human consumption.

The lithosphere, or the Earth’s solid outer layer, is essential for supporting plant and animal life. Deforestation, driven by the expansion of agriculture and urban areas, results in habitat loss and the depletion of biodiversity. Soil erosion, caused by unsustainable farming practices, further degrades the quality of the land.

The biosphere comprises all living organisms, from microscopic bacteria to towering trees and majestic animals. Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, is essential for the stability and resilience of ecosystems. However, human activities, including overexploitation, habitat destruction, and pollution, have led to a significant loss of biodiversity.

Environment Essay in 300 words

The environment is a precious gift that sustains life on Earth. It encompasses the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil that nourishes plants, and the diverse ecosystems that support a variety of species. However, the rapid pace of industrialization, urbanization, and modern lifestyles has taken a toll on our environment, leading to various environmental issues.

Air pollution is a pressing concern, with emissions from vehicles, industrial facilities, and other sources releasing pollutants into the atmosphere. These pollutants, including carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter, have detrimental effects on air quality and human health. Respiratory problems, cardiovascular diseases, and other health issues are linked to prolonged exposure to air pollution.

Water pollution is another critical issue affecting our environment. Industrial discharges, agricultural runoff, and improper waste disposal contaminate water bodies, posing a threat to aquatic life and endangering the availability of clean water for human consumption. The pollution of rivers, lakes, and oceans has far-reaching consequences, impacting ecosystems and the livelihoods of communities dependent on water resources.

Deforestation, driven by the expansion of agriculture and logging, leads to the loss of vital forest ecosystems. Forests play a crucial role in regulating climate, providing habitat for countless species, and maintaining biodiversity. The destruction of forests contributes to habitat loss, soil erosion, and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change is a global phenomenon resulting from the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes contribute to the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The consequences of climate change include rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and more frequent and severe weather events.

To address these environmental challenges, there is an urgent need for collective action at local, national, and global levels. Individuals can contribute by adopting sustainable practices in their daily lives, such as reducing energy consumption, conserving water, and minimizing waste. 

Environment Essay in 400 words

The environment, comprising the air, water, soil, and ecosystems, is the foundation of life on Earth. However, human activities have placed immense pressure on this delicate balance, leading to widespread environmental degradation. It is imperative that we recognize the severity of the issues at hand and make concerted efforts to mitigate the impacts for the sake of our planet and future generations.

Air pollution, a consequence of industrialization and the burning of fossil fuels, poses a severe threat to both the environment and human health. The release of pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere leads to the formation of smog and acid rain. This not only degrades air quality but also harms plant life and contributes to respiratory diseases in humans.

Water pollution is another critical concern that demands immediate attention. The discharge of industrial effluents, agricultural runoff containing pesticides and fertilizers, and improper waste disposal contaminate rivers, lakes, and oceans. This pollution not only endangers aquatic ecosystems but also compromises the availability of clean water for human consumption. The impact of water pollution extends beyond immediate health concerns, affecting the livelihoods of communities dependent on water resources for agriculture and other activities.

Deforestation, driven by the clearing of forests for agriculture, logging, and urbanization, has far-reaching consequences. Forests are vital for maintaining biodiversity, regulating climate, and providing habitat for countless species. The loss of forests contributes to habitat destruction, soil erosion, and a decline in biodiversity. Moreover, the reduction of forested areas exacerbates the effects of climate change, as trees play a crucial role in absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

Climate change, fueled by the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, is perhaps the most significant environmental challenge we face today. The burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, trapping heat and causing a rise in global temperatures. This leads to melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and more frequent and intense weather events. The consequences of climate change are far-reaching, affecting ecosystems, agriculture, and the livelihoods of communities around the world.

To address these environmental challenges, a multifaceted approach is required. Individuals must embrace sustainable practices in their daily lives, such as reducing energy consumption, minimizing waste, and supporting eco-friendly initiatives. Governments play a pivotal role in enacting and enforcing environmental policies that promote sustainable development, regulate pollution, and protect natural habitats.

The environment is a precious and interconnected system that sustains life on Earth. The challenges we face, including air and water pollution, deforestation, and climate change, require urgent and coordinated efforts. By adopting sustainable practices, promoting environmental awareness, and implementing effective policies, we can work towards creating a healthier and more sustainable future for our planet and all its inhabitants. The responsibility to protect and preserve the environment lies with each one of us, and together, we can make a significant impact on the well-being of our planet.

Environment Essay FAQs

The environment includes everything around us, both living and non-living, such as air, water, soil, plants, and animals.

The environment is vital as it provides us with essential resources like air, water, and food, supporting life on Earth.

Environmental threats include pollution (air, water, soil), deforestation, climate change, and loss of biodiversity.

Activities like industrialization, deforestation, and pollution from various sources contribute to harming the environment.

Individuals can protect the environment by adopting sustainable practices, reducing waste, conserving energy, and supporting conservation efforts.

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NY must make the electric school bus transition

New York State has mandated that by 2035 all school buses in the state be zero-emission, like the electric buses above.

  Credit: Logan Bus Co. Inc.

This guest essay reflects the views of Bella Cockerell, New York organizing manager for Mothers Out Front, and Joseph Ambrosio, chief executive of Unique Electric Solutions Inc., a Holbrook-based company that repowers diesel buses into electric buses.

When New York’s all-electric school bus legislation passed in 2022, environmentalists lauded it as a visionary plan and a victory in the climate fight, while school administrators and parents cheered the health and safety benefits it would provide for the state's more than 2 million children who ride to and from school each day.

In the two years since that groundbreaking legislation passed, questions have been raised about the feasibility — both financially and operationally — of meeting the 2027 deadline for new purchases and the 2035 deadline for the entire fleet.

These concerns are misplaced, and the urgency remains to address the detrimental effects of diesel-powered buses on the environment and our children's health.

Air pollution inside a diesel bus can be as much as 12 times higher than outside the bus. That’s because when a school bus stops at a traffic signal, is stuck in traffic, or pauses to pick up or drop off students, the filthy tailpipe emissions drift back into the cabin for the children and driver to breathe in.

This is a major contributor to the surging asthma epidemic, which is especially prevalent in low-income communities and communities of color. For these children, that means difficulty breathing, regular visits to the emergency room, and missed classes. In fact, asthma affects 10% of children and is the leading cause of school absenteeism in New York, according to the state Department of Health. In the long term, it contributes to poorer learning outcomes, lower earning potential, and chronic health conditions.

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Alongside the public health benefits of electric school buses are unquestioned environmental benefits. With the transportation sector making up nearly 30% of statewide greenhouse emissions, transitioning our school bus fleet to electric is crucial to the climate fight.

Fortunately, substantial funding is available right now at the state and federal levels for electric school buses and charging stations, as well as for a pragmatic alternative to purchasing new buses — retrofitting existing gas buses to make them electric. Changing over an entire fleet to electric in one year is not always practical; retrofits can address cost concerns and provide more flexibility for a phased transition.

Funds from New York’s Environmental Bond Act and the state's School Bus Incentive Program are already easing the financial burden on school districts, as are the federal bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program. The state incentive program alone can provide up to $171,000 for each electric school bus purchased, which would pay for most of the cost of a repower or nearly 50% of a new electric bus. Enough resources exist for school districts to begin the transition immediately.

Even in rural upstate districts, where bus routes face longer commutes and colder temperatures, electric buses have the juice to make these journeys. In Havre, Montana, for example, a sparsely populated rural county, electric school buses have handled temperatures as low as minus-40 degrees.

With school budget votes taking place next week, the time is now for parents to tell their local school officials that they will not stand by while dirty diesel buses compromise their children’s health.

Starting small and learning as we go are key principles. School districts can begin with just a single bus, gaining valuable insights into the operational and logistical aspects.

As the saying goes, “Start small, but start now.”

This guest essay reflects the views of Bella Cockerell, New York organizing manager for Mothers Out Front, and Joseph Ambrosio, chief executive of Unique Electric Solutions Inc., a Holbrook-based company that repowers diesel buses into electric buses.

World Environment Day Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on world environment day.

World environment day Essay – Our environment is one of the most important aspects to survive on this planet. Moreover, it is the only thing that can make life sustainable. Without it, we cannot survive even a single day. For instance, our skin will burn, the lungs will get ruptured, our blood pressure would rise.

Furthermore, we will not have food and water to survive. And this will also be possible because of the imbalance of heat and atmospheric pressur e. Thus it is important that we should take care of the environment. Also, abandon all the exploitation that we are causing it.

World Environment Day

World Environment on 5th June every year. People from more than 100 countries celebrate this day. Furthermore, the world environment day is run by the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP). Since the year 1973. Above all the main purpose of celebrating this day was to spread awareness. The awareness was about the conservation of our environment.

Moreover to also take various preventive measures to avert the effects of Global warming. Since we all know that Global warming is the root cause of the ruin of our environment. Therefore it is our duty to protect our environment. And stop all the exploitation that is destroying it. Because in the end, it is our basic need for our survival and our generations ahead.

What do we do on World Environment Day?

On the world environment day, we all take a day off from our work. And join various campaigns to spread awareness about environment protection. Moreover, we all plant small saplings in a barren land so that it may grow and flourish in the land area after some years. Also, we take part in various processions to make people aware of this day. So that they may also take part in protecting our environment.

Furthermore, in schools, the teachers teach the students the methods to plant a tree. The school provides buses to take the students to the jungles. There they come to know about the different types of plants. And the types of vegetation in which they survive. Also, the students have to bring a sapling from their homes and plant them inside the ground. This helps them in getting practical knowledge. Further, it also creates an emotional attachment to the environment.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

World Environment Day 2019

The theme for world environment day 2019 is ‘ Air Pollution’ . Furthermore this year China was the host country for this day. Air pollution is one of the major causes of Global Warming. Because of which many hazardous Consequences are arising. The problem is reaching a point where people are not able to breathe properly.

Moreover, disease like lung cancer is affecting even the minors. As a result, is a major threat to the people living in urban areas. To reduce the risk of air pollution China is establishing various air purifiers in their ecosystem. With the help of these people are at least getting pollution-free air to breathe.

In addition, it is also taking mandatory measures like population reduction, banning the use of plastic, and planting trees in every community. This can help to avert the ruining of the environment caused in the past years.

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