A psychologically safe environment is one which allows people to take interpersonal risks without fear of negative consequences, such as social exclusion or judgement. For example, if a child feels psychologically safe in class with their peers and teachers, then they are more likely to ask for help, to share their ideas, ask questions, or admit they don’t understand something. They are more likely to try, knowing it’s okay to fail. They will still be accepted, even if they make mistakes. This has obvious benefits for individual learning, and the rest of the class who have the potential to learn from others’ questions and ideas.

Given this, we can consider how psychological safety might be affected when environments are not inclusive. Psychological safety relates to feeling supported and accepted by your peers. If you are rejected based upon personal characteristics (e.g. sexual orientation, disability, gender identity) it means a rejection not (just) of your ideas, but for being who you are.

These experiences – whether direct or indirect – could lead to someone feeling unsafe with others in their school. They may feel unsafe to share their authentic self. When a person feels it necessary to hide who they are to avoid negative experiences, it can have a serious impact. For example, it has been suggested that prejudice and/or social exclusion could be a factor in the increased rates of mental illness reported by LGBTQ+ people, when compared to the heterosexual population.

We can see, therefore, why creating an educational environment which celebrates diversity, including different ideas, backgrounds, cultures, identities, and perspectives can be vital in promoting psychological safety. Research suggests that the behaviour of a leader can be important in encouraging psychological safety within a group. This could mean celebrating everyone’s contributions, but also acknowledging your own mistakes and how they help you learn.