A school is where children and teenagers go to learn. They are organized spaces that include classrooms for teaching and learning, cafeterias, and playgrounds.
Students are surrounded by hundreds of people their age, and this teaches them how to interact with others in a healthy manner. It also helps them to become independent and responsible.
Education
School education plays a vital role in shaping students’ values and beliefs. It also helps them learn about politics and government. Extracurricular activities, such as student government and debate clubs, provide practical experiences that help students understand political processes.
Schools should also teach the importance of cooperation and solidarity among students. They should encourage students to be active learners and promote a new disposition toward the teacher as a guide and facilitator.
One of the biggest challenges facing schools is the shortage of teachers. Many schools are understaffed and face crowded classrooms. They also need to ensure that students have access to essential digital learning tools and online resources. They must also be able to provide flexible learning arrangements that meet the needs of students with diverse backgrounds and learning abilities.
Attendance
School attendance is a fundamental barrier to student success, and the impact of absence compounds inequity. Schools should take a proactive approach to identifying students with persistent absenteeism by implementing systems that track period-to-period attendance and automatically send letters or text alerts.
This allows them to quickly identify students who may be missing classes and intervene with strategies that promote engagement, such as success mentors (as shown in the image above), individualized instruction, social support and access to services. The most effective interventions are those that address barriers to attendance, such as illness, housing challenges, transportation issues, and psychological disengagement when instruction feels irrelevant or relationships seem strained. Achieving this requires an understanding of what data to collect and how to interpret it. Attendance data should be available and transparent to all stakeholders.
Socialization
During socialization in school, children learn about societal roles and norms. This process is shaped by the family, peers, culture and experiences that students encounter. It enables them to cultivate values and develop communication skills that are essential for effective relationships and cultural understanding.
In addition, socializing helps children build relationship skills such as listening, negotiating and empathizing with others. These skills are vital for their professional and personal lives.
Schools also promote a sense of responsibility and belonging among students through group activities. For instance, through team sports and project-based learning, they teach students how to function as a group. This enables them to develop crucial abilities such as leadership and teamwork that are vital for success in the workplace. They also promote diversity awareness and appreciation of different cultures.
Self-discipline
Self-discipline is one of the best traits to master as a student. It helps students focus on long-term goals and resist temptations. Self-discipline also allows students to save money and become more productive. This skill can be very important in the future.
Students with self-discipline prioritize their responsibilities and put the needs of others before their own. They also stay motivated, even when they encounter challenges. This will help them become successful adults.
Self-discipline may be more important than grit when it comes to completing high school and earning college scholarships, according to research by Angela Duckworth and Martin E.P. Seligman. Parents can help their children develop this skill by encouraging them to practice planning and enforcing consequences. They can also teach their children about the importance of following routines, avoiding distractions and staying focused on their academic goals.
Relationships
Developing relationships that support a safe supportive learning environment and school belonging is the responsibility of everyone who interacts within a school. Teachers can be supported in their work by leadership that prioritizes relationship building.
Providing students with positive social interactions in the context of schools fosters a sense of school belonging, and can lead to better student performance. In addition, students whose relationships with adults are characterized by sensitivity, attunement, consistency, and trustworthiness are more likely to be resilient in the face of challenges.
The development of relationships in schools requires a commitment to building a powerful school culture and cultivating strong teacher/student, family/teacher and community/school connections. This can be achieved by implementing small school designs, like the advisory model used in Gateway Public Schools.