Climate Setting

Comprehensive Sexual Health Education (CSHE) is critical to promoting young people’s health, and well-being. One primary tool to support CSHE implementation is Climate Setting. 

Climate Setting refers to the prevailing mood, attitudes, standards, and tone that learners feel when they are in a classroom or other learning environment. A positive learning environment supports learners by creating a respectful, welcoming, and inclusive environment. It is a critical part of developing a thoughtful and safe instructional experience because it builds rapport and trust between you and the learners. While climate setting is important for all learning environments, it’s especially important when providing CSHE. 

Here are five ways to foster a positive learning environment:

1. Creating and Maintaining Group Agreements helps create a sense of community and learner buy-in, sets you up to have productive discussions, and lets the learners express what they need to be able to participate fully. These should be a set of agreements co-created by students and supported by everyone in the classroom.
   • Explain why you are taking time to create group agreements
   • Ask learners what they need to feel supported when discussing these topics and co-create a list that may include:
     • One person speaks at a time (one diva, one microphone)
     • Right to pass
     • Share participation equally (take space, make space)
     • Personal Confidentiality
     • Brave space (take risks, doing so with care and compassion)
     • Respect for self and others’ opinions and experiences
     • No assumptions
   • Make sure that group agreements are maintained throughout CSHE instruction. Post the agreements and revisit them before group discussions or delving into a sensitive topic. When learners do not honor group agreements, return to them and redirect when necessary.
2. Warm-up Activities and Community Builders help students feel a sense of belonging and share common interests, experiences, or goals. Learners will participate more openly and honestly if they are comfortable with you and their peers. These activities can be a way to build relationships and celebrate accomplishments. Edutopia has some great examples of community building activities for elementary, middle, and high school grade levels.
3. Polling and Surveys are a way to check in with learners about their interests and needs prior to CSHE instruction. This can be done through an online or paper survey. The goal of a learning survey is to learn more about learners to connect and build relationships and to understand what you can do to create a supportive and productive learning environment.
   • An important part of this process is making sure you are honoring learners’ identities. One piece of a young learner’s identity you want to know are their pronouns.
     • Pronouns: All learners deserve to feel included and have their identities seen and respected. Still, we know sexuality and gender expansive students experience higher rate of harassment and discrimination in school settings, which may impact how safe they feel disclosing details about their identities in front of peers. Asking learners to share their pronouns in a private way gives them the opportunity to share with you even if they are not ready to share with the rest of the class. Make sure to practice and use the pronouns that learners ask you to use.
     • Questions you should consider:
       1. How would you describe yourself?
       2. What are you proud of?
       3. What name and pronouns do you use at school?
          • Do you use the same name and pronouns in the place where you live?
       4. Is there anything you would like me to know about your learning needs? 
       5. What can I do to make you feel supported in the learning environment?
4. Anonymous Questions are used to create a space in which learners can ask questions without fear of judgement. When learners feel uncomfortable or embarrassed, they will often avoid asking questions and look for answers elsewhere, which can lead to more misinformation. Asking questions anonymously will support them in openly asking questions.
   • Depending on the learning resources available, you can create a physical or virtual anonymous question box. If you have a physical anonymous question box, make sure that the paper and pens are the same color and that every learner writes something down, even if it’s not a question, to ensure anonymity. If your anonymous question box is virtual, ensure that the survey is anonymous before providing the link to learners.
   • It’s a good idea to collect questions and give yourself time to review them prior to answering them in front of the group. This will give you time to do research, discuss with colleagues, or refer to credible resources if you are unsure how to answer a question.
5. Trigger Warnings help learners prepare for any strong emotions that might come up during CSHE instruction. Our identities and life experiences impact our response to sensitive topics.
   • Give learners an overview of topics covered at the beginning of each unit. Make sure to include resources they can access if needed (e.g., school counselors, local clinics, online resources).
   • At the end of each lesson, provide an overview of the next lesson so learners are able to prepare.

Reflect on how you want learners to feel after CSHE implementation. Climate setting is critical to fostering a positive climate/learning environment, and you may need to try different approaches to climate setting to determine what feels most authentic for you and is most effective for the young people you serve.

Thank you for your commitment to respectful, welcoming, and inclusive learning environments!

Additional Resources:

• Advocates for Youth: Climate Setting When Teaching Sex Education (MS and HS)
• K.12.WA: A Guide to Sexual Health Education Implementation in Washington State
• 3Rs A K-12 Sexuality Education Curriculum: Teacher’s Guide
• FLASH Curriculum: Climate Setting
• West Ed: School Climate Improvement Toolkit